Rare Magic
by Love without expectation
Summary: Rose & Scorpius have avoided each other until they are made Head girl & boy. Rose doesn't believe they stand a chance given their family history. Would a rare bit of magic convince everyone including Rose & Scorpius?
1. Chapter 1: A Dream Come True

**Hi :) I'm new here! I haven't written any Harry Potter fanfics. I love reading Rose & Scorpius stories as I find them fascinating, so this one is a Rose&Scorpius fic. **

**Disclaimer - All characters owned by JK Rowling and I'm just a fan!**

**Chapter 1 – A dream come true**

Rose Weasley looked at her Head girl badge for the hundredth time that day. She had wanted this more than anything else, ever since she had seen Teddy Lupin with the Head boy badge. The way grandma Molly had organized a party and prepared every delicacy she knew, Uncle Harry looked at Teddy with an unmistakable look of Pride, Aunt Ginny who never ever shed a tear had glistening eyes. The rest of family had treated Teddy with reverence, even Uncle George thought it was alright! (Coming from Uncle George, that was a huge compliment!)

So right there, Rose had made up her mind at the age of 10 that she would one day become the Head girl of Hogwarts!

After exactly 7 years, she had fulfilled her dream. She had worked hard for it, made more sacrifices than people cared to find out. She had never confided this to anyone, not even to Al who was not only her favourite cousin but also her Best Friend. If he had indeed guessed it, he hadn't let her know.

She waited in the Head's compartment on Hogwart's Express for the Head Boy to appear. She had no clue who it would be and had not spared a thought to it, until then.

She had been too happy enjoying the shower of love she had received from her family. Her mom and dad had been delirious with happiness, she had expected her mum to be happy, but dad was a revelation, he had gloated so much that even Uncle Harry who had seen dad in all his avatars had said he worried dad had finally lost it. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry had presented her a locket in the shape of small rose, it was small, but very beautiful, she had fallen in love with it instantly and worn it around her neck since. Grandma Molly had outdone herself with the feast. In spite of her age, she was as active as ever. Rose loved her family, they were all different and often drove her nuts but she could never do anything to hurt them. In fact she was willing to go to any extend to just keep them happy.

She heard the compartment door slide open. She looked up to lock eyes with Scorpius Malfoy.

If she put her hand to heart, she wouldn't honestly be able to say that she dint expect it. They were the top 2 students in their year. They were not enemies, No! There weren't friends either! They just had different set of friends to hang out with. She was a Gryffindor like most of her family while he was a Ravenclaw unlike the rest of his family.

"Ravenclaw not Slytherin", her dad had exclaimed to his mother many moons ago when Rose had told him about the boy who she was hell bent on beating at every test, since that was what her dad had wanted.

They were competitors, she had obsessed about beating him so much that, she had developed a slight interest in him. Nothing to do with the light blonde hair, or grey eyes or the tall and fit frame, it was more to do with the fact that she loved the challenge he posed. Ever competitive, in their first two years, they even traded insults but eventually, they had become more dignified towards each other and just kept their focus on the competition in class and never carried it beyond.

She had dated a guy or two, he had had an occasional girlfriend. For all practical purposes, they were too focused on their studies to have a serious relationship, at least that was the case with her, she assumed, his case would be no different. So it was in this highly competitive environment that she had actually started thinking of him. She honestly dint lose sleep over him, it was not a major crush either, mild interest that was all, she never could read him, that could be the reason as well.

Now however, things would change, they couldn't possibly avoid each other, as they had to now work together as head boy and head girl, they even had to share a dorm. The heads had a separate room, with a single common room. It was going to be an interesting year, she thought.

When the prefects came, she gave out some instructions, he had just watched her. After they had dispersed, she thought of starting a conversation, but that was not something she ever felt comfortable doing, so she simply went back to reading _Career for Intelligent Witches. _He looked like he wanted to say something as well, but instead left the carriage, presumably to be with his friends. She dint notice he was gone.

McGonagall, looking as ancient and severe as ever had called them after the feast to brief them on their duties as Head Boy and Girl, it was then that she heard his voice. "Yes Professor" was all he had said. She looked at him surreptitiously, since when had he been a man of few words? She really dint seem to know the boy who was her partner in some sense.

"You both need to Work together, I hope you understand that! Also I want the head boy and head girl setting an example for all students, exhibit only the best behavior and be an inspiration to other students. I expect nothing but the best from you both." McGonagall had said it all in one go, She had gulped and sent another furtive glance at the head boy, he just looked straight at McGonagall and nodded in assent. She was now sure she dint know the boy at all, she decided, before profusely assuring McGonagall of their best intensions. She had talked for the both of them. He had nodded again.

Maybe he was just nervous, she thought, as they walked to their common dorm together. When they reached the portrait of a beautiful lady behind which was the entrance of their common room, she expected him to say the password, but he hadn't, instead he waited until she had said "Genesis" .

He had walked in behind her, but disappeared into his room before she could say anything. She looked at the direction of his room, almost angrily, How on earth were they going to work together, if he refused to so much as open his mouth in her presence. It was infuriating to see Scorpious Malfoy giving her the silent treatment. She had half a mind to bang on his door and force him to come out and speak to her. However, better sense prevailed as she explored her new room, she loved everything about it, even the bath was glorious, even better than the prefects' bath. It was her dream, it had come true, nothing would stop her from enjoying what she had earned, she decided, touching the Rose locket.


	2. Chapter 2 : An unexpected declaration

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**Chapter 2 – An unexpected confession**

When she woke up the next morning in a very soft bed after a good night's sleep, she was not nearly as angry with Malfoy, maybe he just had a bad day, she thought charitably. She was determined to work out a professional relationship with him, it was important for her to succeed as Head Girl. If that meant taking the first step, she would do it!

She found Malfoy sitting in their common room, he was reading a book on Quidditch as she could make out from the flying figures on the cover. He also looked like, he had just come back from a heavy workout.

"Good Morning" She said trying to sound pleasant.

He looked up from his book surprised, but said "Good Morning to you too Weasley" without emotion. "Thought you had gone all silent on me?" He said to her surprise. She looked like she had been hit by a bludger, so here she sat wondering why the one and only Scorpius Malfoy was giving her the silent treatment and he simply accuses her of doing the same?

A sudden anger (Quality courtesy her dad) had shot up in her and she realized she was turning that unusual shade of red which meant trouble for the person in front of her.

He looked at her mildly amused "Woah, you look like you've been set on fire ! Weasley "

"Look" She said hotly, "Don't sit there and accuse me, I guess it is my fault I tried to strike up a conversation with you.. " She stopped from saying what she wanted to next and just turned around and stalked off.

Had she turned around she would've seen a Malfoy looking slightly mollified.

The next 2 days went by without any major interactions between the heads. However, they could not avoid each other the next day, there was a prefects meeting and they had to make sure they had all the schedules, patrol plans and other instructions ready. This would not be possible without discussing it. Rose looked up at Malfoy, she honestly dint want a repeat of the first day!

He suddenly looked up and met her eyes. "I know I'm good looking" he smirked, "but that doesn't give you the right to ogle at me"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure!" she replied sarcasm dripping from every word "You are so incredibly sexy that I cant avoid staring at you, but can you for once bring your over-blown head from the clouds and sit down to discuss this with me" waving the parchment with schedule details on it. He looked at her incredulously, but seemed to have stopped himself from retorting as he moved forward and pulled the parchment towards him. Now, she was embarrassed, she had expected a comeback, the silence made her indignant, but she decided not to pursue it further!

As they sat and discussed, she realized, the conversations came easily enough, they did seem to agree on anything related to their roles, it was everything else that seemed to be different. That was not so bad, she thought after a successful Prefects meeting where both of them had talked like partners giving no indication of the unpleasant interactions they had earlier. Maybe they just needed to stick to being professionals, no un-necessary friendships to ruin the equation. Yes that was the best, she thought one last time, confirming the thought in her head.

She dint really need Malfoy as her friend. She had Albus, her cousin Lily, brother Hugo, her cousins, then there was Alice Longbottom and Anita Patil. They were more than a handful, she thought happily.

As if to break her thought process, she heard a voice say "Umm Weasley, sorry about this week! You just happened to meet me on the wrong day" He mumbled without looking at her.

She looked up surprised, there just when she least expected it, he had come and talked, no, not just talked but apologized. She raised her eyebrows looking at him with interest.

"What?" He asked defensively seeing her expression. "In the train, I walked in on my girlfriend kissing my best friend it was only expected I behave that way" he looked at her daring her to disagree. She looked at him confusion written over her face. Sometime earlier he was not talking, now he was sharing personal details of his life with her? She dint know how to react though her brain had already processed a "Oh I'm sorry" . He shrugged, taking a seat next to her. "I Knew, I saw it coming, I…I just dint …"He stumbled around for words. She felt incredibly sorry for him, he was in a bad state she realized, he had obviously lost his girlfriend and best friend in one go and here he was seeking comfort in a total stranger.(Well, not really a stranger but well for all emotional purposes, an absolute stranger!)

"I dint know you had a girlfriend" She said without thinking this time! He looked vaguely amused. "Sorry" She said going red again, this time blushing. He shrugged again "Zara Zabini, she is in slytherin, I don't know if you know her, my best friend you would know he is in the Slytherin Quidditch team, Stan Nott".

"You have no friends in Ravenclaw?" she asked curiously. He let out a short laugh "I do but I have known Zara and Stan since childhood, our dads are friends" then he added with slight pain "that makes it much worse". She genuinely felt sorry for him, she could imagine how it feels to be backstabbed by people you thought were close to you. "So what did you do?" she asked not knowing what else to say. "I saw them and probably let out a loud grunt. I cant say I remember exactly, I was too dazed, but I just walked away". He was staring at his hands now, he was not sure if he should be making this confession at all, but he just needed an outlet. "You said you knew" She asked in a small voice. All she could think of was asking him questions to keep him distracted.

He let out a long sigh and stretched himself on his seat. "Well, yes, they have been close for a long time, since they were little kids, they always had this special understanding. Before I started dating Zara, I asked Stan if it was alright, he was happy for me, for us , then I saw the changes, when I went for a date with her or spent too much time with her, it irked him, when I confronted him one day, he said he missed his Best Friends. I tried to include him in everything we did. Then this summer, I had gone away to Austria with my parents, while Zara and Stan spent it together in her home. I guess…they just realized they are meant to be" he gulped. "I .." he continued "I.. don't feel like they cheated me or anything, instead I felt, I was invading their private space, like I had come in between them.." he trailed off.

Rose looked at Scorpius like she was seeing him for the first time. She dint know what to say, so she simply took his hand in hers and gripped it reassuringly. "Its alright Scorpius" she said in a constricted voice.. "you couldn't have known!" she smiled warmly at him.

He stood up suddenly "I'm sorry to burden you with this like this, I dint mean to..I thought I owed you an explanation for my behavior, but I promise I dint intend to .." She cut him off "Its alright scorpius, you can tell me, In fact, I'm glad you did!" She smiled once again. She noticed he looked strangely relieved.


	3. Chapter 3: Rudeness, Despair & the calm

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**Chapter 3 – Rudeness, Despair & calm after storm**

Anyone would have thought that after a discussion that involved revealing details of betrayal by a girlfriend (now ex) and best friend would be enough to cement a friendship between Scorpius and Rose. That was not to be.

She had seriously considered offering her hand in friendship, but decided it was too much trouble as he was decidedly avoiding her except to discuss head duties. She had to keep her focus on her NEWTs and her final year as head girl. Besides, there was that tiny feeling that she harboured for Scorpius that could actually blow up into something substantial, then she would be a wreck, there would be heart-break, else there would be distractions, not to forget he was a Malfoy, not that she minded, but her family would. So that was that, she would treat him exactly like she treated him all these years.

She did wonder though why he had chosen to avoid her, may be it was the embarrassment of the spur of the moment confession of his heart-break. That had to be it, she concluded. She went back to finishing her long essay on _Medieval witches and the Potions they discovered_. She wanted to discover a potion too, one that would help students concentrate instead of focusing on matters of no importance. She shook her head for one last time to clear her thoughts.

"Having trouble concentrating Weasley?" She looked up to find Malfoy lounging in the love seat opposite her, he had clearly come back from Quidditch practice. The satisfied smirk on his face was not to be missed.

"Were you born with that smirk Malfoy?" she asked only half joking.

"well do you like it?" The smirk widened.

"uh?" She rolled her eyes "No" she replied shortly, going back to her essay.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, the smirk intact.

"Why are you bothering me Malfoy? Is there another sob story you need to tell me?" She asked unkindly clearly irritated at not being able to complete the essay.

She looked up realizing that was below the belt, he flinched visibly, the smirk nowhere in sight. He picked up the broomstick with a swish and stomped away, angrily.

For a second she had thought he was attacking her, but his retreat bothered her more. This was not her, she was not un-kind to people, she was many things good and bad, but never mean. She felt guilt enveloping her.

They were back to square one, no conversations except when duty called and even those discussions had turned frosty. She felt a pang in her heart, finally when she couldn't go another step without feeling guilty, she decided it was time to apologize. However she could never get across her "sorry" to him as he was avoiding her like she had dragon pox.

That was when the ancient Prof Slughorn (Wonder what it is with Hogwarts and its ancient professors, sigh!) came to her rescue. He placed them opposite each other in the potions class giving them potions that had contradicting effects. The potion whose effect overpowers the other's potion would be the winner. So naturally, he posed his 2 best potion-makers as rivals. He also gave them the toughest potions, she was to brew the _drink of despair_ while he was to brew _the calming draught_ powerful enough to over-power the strong effects of _the drink of despair. _

"Even a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore had been unable to sustain the effect of the drink of despair, so naturally nobody would be testing it on themselves, all I'm looking for is the general effect of the potion, the colour, the fumes and the effect when smelled" Slughorn specified. Rose remembered reading about how Prof Dumbledore had to drink the potion when Uncle Harry and he had gone to find a Horcrux, in the new version of Hogwarts - A History!

She tried to talk to Scorpius, but he was ignoring her and concentrating on his potion, she sighed unhappily and set out to brew her potion, when she was done with the instructions that were more complicated than any potion she had brewed, she waited until the potion simmered, stirring occasionally. She remembered the first time she had fallen off her broom stick, the first time Scorpius Malfoy had beaten her at a test, then the images shifted to the howler she had received from her dad for quitting Quidditch. Tears sprang up in her eyes. She remembered Malfoy kissing a girl in the corridors. Tears were falling from her eyes easily, the pain she felt when bones were broken, when Malfoy had not looked at her, when..she was now sobbing silently.

Malfoy looked at her in astonishment, even though he dint realize it at first, it did occur to him that she had gotten her potion right, only a perfect _drink of despair _had caused such a reaction in her. He looked at his _calming draught_, obviously, its effect was nothing in comparison to hers. He checked the text book, he remembered reading somewhere about how to strengthen the potion, as he frantically searched, he hadn't realized she was looking at him. "Page 198" She said tears still flowing down her eyes. He wouldn't have accepted her help, had it not been for her tears, he quickly flicked to the right page and followed the instructions, he felt himself becoming extremely relaxed after a point. He looked at her, the fumes were slowly making way towards her, as he watched curiously, her tears dried up and a calm descended on her face.

When Prof Slughorn came to their table, he was very impressed with Rose's concoction, he grimaced when he inhaled the fumes, his old face distorted in disgust, he immediately moved towards Scorpius 's potion and inhaled deeply instantly looking like the jovial potions master he was.

He looked at Rose and Scorpius eyes shining with pride. "As much as I have to say Mr Malfoy won this round, Ms Weasley you have done a wonderful job with that potion! I feel thrilled that I have potioneers of your caliber in my class" He said happily offering their houses 50 points each.

**A/N- The potion hasn't quite finished its job yet!**


	4. Chapter 4 : Do I Know You ?

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><strong>my confidence :) and Thank u Sarapha for the encouraging PM !<strong>

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**Disclaimer - I'm not JK Rowling (quite obviously!) - all characters belong to her!**

**Chapter 4 – Do I know you?**

Oddly Rose and Scorpius walked back to their common room together in complete silence. It was like an experience they had shared, like fighting a mountain troll together, except this time it was more in the mind. He opened the portrait door and held it open for her, she walked in without turning around once. She made herself comfortable on the cushions. He waited for a few minutes contemplating something and went and sat next to her, putting his arm around her.

"Its alright Weasley, Powerful Wizards have broken down with that potion" He said soothingly. "You also deserve credit for giving me the page number" he said suppressing the thought that at another time he would've given her hell for remembering page numbers or even helping him.

She suddenly put her hand around him, breaking down "I..I saw horrible things, I ..I am a horrible person Scorpius, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have insulted you" She sobbed into his chest. He ran his hand pacifyingly through her hair "You are a wonderful person Rose, just know it, it was just a potion, it creates that effect, you are fine, you are ok" He murmured to her softly, while she held on to him like her life depended on it. He kissed her softly on her forehead and continued to calm her. Finally she fell asleep clutching onto his robes, after a while he drifted off to sleep as well.

When Rose woke up way past midnight, she realized she was asleep on Malfoy's chest, she tried to move without waking him up but his grip on her was firm. When she tried one more time, he woke up as well. They looked at each other awkwardly and quickly let go of each other, sitting apart and staring at anything but each other.

"You hungry?" She asked out of the blue. He finally looked at her and nodded in the affirmative.

"Come with me" she said standing up suddenly and pulling out a parchment from her bag.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" She tapped the parchment with a wand. Scorpius stared at her in disbelief; did he know the girl in front of him? "Come on" She pulled him along impatiently apparently satisfied with what she saw in the map. They reached the painting of a pear and she tickled it. It gave way to the Hogwarts kitchens, there were many house elves eagerly looking at their visitors with interest. Suddenly a house elf came running, stopping in front of Rose, panting, "Ms Rosie has come to visit us after so long, Blinkie has missed you Ms Rosie..". Rose sat down to hold blinkie's hand "Aww Blinkie, I've missed you too, its just that I've been very busy, I'm sorry" She smiled. "oh no no sorry Ms Rosie, Blinkie is happy to see you, please please sit down while we get the best food for you Ms Rosie and for you Ms Rosie's friend " Blinkie said in one breath.

Scorpius was now looking at Rose like he had never met her before. Rose motioned him to take a chair on a long table and sat in the next one.

"Oh don't give me that look Scorpius" She smiled

"Who are you? Where is the Rose Weasley I know? Head girl? Who never breaks rules? .Who.." Scorpius asked in one breath, only to be stopped by Rose mid-sentance.

"Ok Ok" She put her hand up. "Well firstly, I was not always a believer of following rules" she smiled impishly. "Secondly, the map, its like a family heirloom, every member of the Weasley-Potter family gets to have it for one week, everyone takes turns, though I had refused to use it, it was James' idea to continue giving it to me. He said you never know when you would need it, even head girls need a break. Well turned out he was right!" She smiled happily now.

Scorpius kept gazing at her, an odd look now making way onto his face.

"What?" She asked now grinning, " Will you stop staring like you are falling in love with me or something" she swatted his hand, laughing.

He broke into a grin. "Not yet Weasley" He replied, trying to smirk but failing. "Well lets just say, too many revelations about you for one day".

Rose blushed at this statement. He took her hand and said, "Never mind" she looked up at him surprised. "I like this Rose" he mentioned the name softly "quite different from the know-it-all- will-never-break-rules-or-let-others-break-rules Weasley" he said it all in one go, eliciting a hearty laugh from her.

After a filling meal and thanking Blinkie profusely, causing Blinkie to tear up with happiness, they went back to their dorm checking the marauder's map carefully. Once they were back and safe. Rose tapped the map with her wand and said "Mischief Managed".

"Indeed" said Scorpius and smiled genially.

She wished him a goodnight and turned around to go to her room.

"Hey Weasley" he called out. She turned around, "You think we could be friends?" he asked sincerely.

"No" she said "Not unless you can call me Rose more often" she smiled playfully.

"hmmm" He acted liked he was thinking hard, "I think that can be managed" he laughed giving her a wink before setting off to his room.

Rose lied down in her bed contemplating the events of the day. Nothing had prepared her for such a day. She had never shown her vulnerable side to anyone at school, not even Al had seen her so miserable. Yet it was Scorpius who had seen it all and helped her through. Now they were friends, she held onto the rose locket, there was something so natural about them together, she thought. She twisted and turned until she fell into a sleep that was full of dreams of her and Scorpius and in every single dream she had, he kissed her.


	5. Chapter 5 : A wake up call

**Thank u Shymamalamasamakun for the lovely review:) & Annonn thank u 'cos I was waiting for just one more review n u saved me :D**

**Chapter 5 – A wake up call**

It was much easier for the Head Boy and Head Girl, now that they had developed a friendship. Everybody noticed the sudden change and the good camaraderie they shared. Many wondered what had happened to thaw the ice. Many of Rose's cousins tried to coax the truth out of her, she was thankful that the more forceful of them had already left the school. However she still had to face Al. she told him honestly that Scorpius had helped her through a tough time, without going into detail. Al accepted her explanation without question by simply stating that he trusted her instincts. She was exceedingly grateful to him for that.

Rose and Scorpius now spent more time with each other than with anyone else, especially as they had chosen to sit together in some classes, partner each other in other activities while naturally having to do their head duties together and sharing the common room.

After quizzing each other relentlessly on Transfiguration for an upcoming quiz, Scorpius raised his hands in despair "I'm sick of seeing your face Weasley" he grumbled.

She looked at him amused, she knew him well enough now to know that the words were empty, it simply dint have any emotion that could make it real or possible. "I'm sicker of you Malfoy" she played along.

He raised his eyebrows, while she shrugged. "I'm planning to get myself a date, someone other than you for the Christmas ball" He said confidently.

She smiled "Good, because I am going with someone else too" she replied happily.

"Who?" The question was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

She giggled "You'll find out in due course Malfoy"

"But the ball is a good 3 months away" he whined like a child.

"Well I'll tell you at least a month in advance Malfoy" she answered in a fake soothing voice.

"I hope you are joking Rose" he asked seriously, his eyes boring into hers.

"Well I'm not joking Scorpius" she replied locking eyes with him.

He dropped his gaze and they were silent for a few moments!

"oh well then, I need to find someone quickly " he replied now smirking.

She shook her head. For a moment, her breath had constricted, she was almost glad to know that it was only a false alarm. Well, Almost!

It was a few days after this conversation that she realized, Scorpius and she had hardly spent any time together in those few days. Even though some of their activities remained common, he was also burdened with the task of being the Ravenclaw Quidditch team Captain and seeker, so had to undergo severe training almost on a daily basis, thus effectively sapping him of all the energy. Almost every day he would fall asleep while writing his homework. Though this worried her, she tried not to point it out to him, knowing how important Quidditch was to him. She tried to help him with notes, sometimes she would bring in food knowing for sure he had forgotten to eat in between his busy schedule, she even managed some of his head duties without letting him know.

However, she really understood how hectic things were for him, when she realized that he was running late on the day of the match. She waited impatiently for him to make his way to their common room, when he dint, she decided to actually go his room and wake him up, something she had never done before!

She peeked in through the door way as the door was ajar, he had probably been too sleepy to close it, she thought with a sigh. She walked inside to find him still sleeping, though she dint have the heart to wake him up, she had to. The match would start in less than half an hour, she thought frantically.

"Scorp" She whispered lightly, shaking him slightly. Then her voice became louder and she shook him more vigorously.

"Rosie" he murmured in his sleep.. She stopped, peering at his face, his eyes were still wide shut.

"SCORP" she shook him, shouting his name now. In a swift motion he pulled her hand, before she knew it she was now lying with her hand under his heavy body and his face only inches away from hers.

She was dazed for a short while, but quickly brought herself back to her senses. He had a game to play, now was not the time to day dream, she admonished herself!

"Scorp", she used her free hand to touch his face. He jerked awake, too stunned to find Rose lying so close to him to react. "Wake up, you have a game in half an hour" She said gazing into his eyes. His eyes lingered on hers for a few seconds before he realized what she had said. He sat up while she slipped out of the room quietly! He ran his hand through his hair wondering for a second what had just happened, before he rushed off to get himself ready for the game.

When he came out of his room in less than 5 minutes, he realized she was waiting for him. He felt oddly happy. She held out some sandwiches to him, "I know you won't go to the great hall now, so I thought I might bring something for you to eat quickly". He looked at her gratefully but pushed away the food "Not now Rosie.." he said. She looked at him angrily, "Scorpius Malfoy you will not leave without eating at least one of these", she held out the plate before him again "or I might jinx you or something" she added threateningly. He mumbled something about having an overbearing person to deal with but took the sandwich and ate as he walked. She couldn't help smiling, she was strangely reminded of her parents.

Before he walked out he turned around, "Hey Rosie, won't you wish me luck?" He asked like a little child. "No" She replied mischievously "I'm a Gryffindor Remember!"

"But we are playing Slytherin today?" He pouted.

"An enemy is always an enemy Malfoy! Now run along" She replied in a trying to be stern voice.

"Right!" He said and rolled his eyes as he ran towards the Quidditch pitch.

She had wanted to go and watch the match badly, she loved watching Quidditch, In fact she loved playing Quidditch too. However when she was not made a prefect in her fifth year owing to her role in many of her family pranks and due to her hectic Quidditch schedule, she realized, she could be made the Quidditch captain but not the head girl, so she had made a conscious decision to leave Quidditch to concentrate on her biggest dream. Also, she was glad Gryffindor had not lost out due to her quitting. She was an exceptional seeker and had won 3 continuous championships for Gryffindor, however she realized Lily Potter made an exceptional seeker too, she had the combined skills of her father and mother, which was a pretty potent combination, considering her Uncle Harry had been the youngest seeker in a century and a half while at Hogwarts while her Aunt Ginny had actually played for the Harpies. She had felt that it was only fair that Lily be given the chance. She wasn't proven wrong. However she felt a twinge of sadness whenever she thought of Quidditch.

She however wanted to watch this match for Scorpius, but Prof McGonagall had assigned her some work that needed to be looked into immediately, since Scorpius was away playing, she had no option but to stay put and finish off the work. It was when she was almost done that a first year had come panting into McGonagall's office and said something along the lines of Quidditch, dark magic and players hurt. She had also stood up along with McGonagall and had actually run as fast as she could to the Quidditch pitch. There was complete mayhem, she couldn't see Scorpius anywhere.

"Rose" Lily had come and clutched her hand. "Did you see that, she asked, her voice shaking"

"No..What happened?" she asked urgently.

Lily shuddered and said "I don't know, people are saying it was Marcus Flint, he used some …" she paused drawing in a breath "some dark magic and the bludgers were all flying at the Ravenclaw players, then they tried to stop the game, but the bludgers were relentless, Scorpius Malfoy tried to save his team mates being their best flier, but he ..he got severely hit, many times, he had a pretty bad fall too"

"He was already unconscious by the time the professors set into action and got the situation under control. All of Ravenclaw team is in the hospital wing and some 3 Slytherin players were injured too" Lily was giving her a detailed report.

Rose felt her heart sink. Scorpius was in the hospital wing with multiple injuries. She was unable to move for a few seconds.

Lily put her hand on Rose's shoulder, "I know he is your friend Rose, I'm so sorry!" Rose nodded her head vaguely and ran towards the hospital wing.


	6. Chapter 6 : I'll be there for you

**Chapter 6 – I'll be there for you**

Rose reached the hospital wing only to find it in utter chaos; there were too many injuries, just one very old Madam Pomfrey and her new, inexperienced and more importantly, inefficient assistant. Then there were friends of those who were injured and a few others concerned for the injured and some curious onlookers. Even the professors were looking hassled. Rose quickly swung into action as she got the onlookers to leave and the friends to maintain order so that the injured could be attended to without hindrance. Madam Pomfrey gave her a grateful nod as she set about attending to the injured on the basis of priority.

Rose asked one of the prefects to alert other prefects to handle the friends of those injured. She finally walked in to catch a glimpse of Scorpius who looked a complete mess. She felt a searing pain in her throat as she arrested a sob there. Blood had not stopped gushing out of his leg and was mortified when she realized that it had gone unnoticed. She immediately called this to Madam Pomfrey's attention who was dismayed at the amount of blood lost, she called out instructions to her new assistant who looked too confused and slightly scared to act on it.

"I'll do it" Rose told Madam Pomfrey. "But you are a student Ms Weasley" Madam Pomfrey was caught in a dilemma. "Yes mam, but the best in the year and I have already studied this, I just need you to guide me, I'm sure I'll be able to manage!" Rose used her most convincing tone! Finally the older woman gave in and Rose started out with the healing process for Scorpius while Madam Pomfrey gave her instructions attending to other injured. "You'll be alright Scorp" She kept murmuring as she stopped the bleeding. A few other professors had chipped in to help out with the various students, by sun down, all students were attended to. Many of the students had gained consciousness as well.

However Scorpius remained unconscious. Rose refused to move from his bed side. Madam Pomfrey had to ask her assistant to give food to Rose in the hospital wing stating she dint want one more student falling sick. Rose ate reluctantly.

She waited for him to open his eyes and scorn at her saying the reason he had to suffer was because she hadn't wished him Good Luck or attended the match or some such random accusation. She would've given anything to get that Malfoy to the one lying unconscious indifferent to her presence near him,

When she overheard the name "Malfoy" coming from inner chamber, she wasted no time and moved quietly towards the far end of the wing to hear what was being discussed. It was Prof McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey discussing Scorpius' condition.

"He has been overworking himself, so I think the combined effect of the stress, lack of good nutrition and obviously the many bludger hits that the boy took trying to save others and the fall that's why the boy's response to the treatment is slow. To add to it, I hadn't noticed a rather heavy flow of blood, that caused severe blood loss. Thank God for Ms Weasley" Madam Pomfrey said it in one go, sounding upset with herself.

"I know Poppy, but don't blame yourself, you had too much in your hand, He is a fighter, I'm sure he'll come around" said McGonagall though she sounded like she was convincing herself more on the latter part. "To add to it, I'm unable to reach his parents, they have gone to some undisclosed location, they are not to return until 2 weeks later I believe" She sounded worried. "I'm sure they would send owls to the boy but him being in this condition." She trailed off.

There was silence.

"We need somebody to look after him Minerva, he needs to take a potion every half an hour until he comes around. I'm not sure I can trust Lina (Rose understood she was talking about her assistant) to do that." She sighed, "We need somebody more reliable, somebody who can handle this issue well. It would have been easier if his parents" She stopped and sighed.

Rose couldn't stop herself, without thinking of the consequences; she flung herself into the inner chamber. Both the older women jumped, "I'm so sorry, but I heard a part of your conversation, I can ..I mean..I volunteer to look after Scorpius". Rose said fervently.

"Ms Weasley , we do appreciate your offer and your concern, but a student." Rose dint let McGonagall continue.

"Professor, please listen to me, I'm the head girl, I can take this responsibility, besides, Scorpius and I share a dorm so it becomes easier for me" She said forcefully in a frantic attempt to coerce them into agreeing.

"Fine" Madam Pomfrey said after a while, " I'll teach you the wand work and supervise you the first few times, if you succeed you can take care of Mr Malfoy".

The wand work was for a person to swallow a potion when unconscious, Rose had learnt the complicated work quickly enough as she had seen her Aunt Audrey, who was a healer, do it a few times.

To Madam Pomfrey's surprise, Rose got her wand work right in the very first attempt, a blue light swirled around Scorpius' neck as the potion went into his unconscious body. Rose stayed in the hospital wing all night, sleeping only in fits. When Madam Pomfrey was completely convinced of Rose's ability to take care of Scorpius, she moved Scorpius to his room.

Every half an hour, Rose devotedly used the complex spell to make him drink the potion. However she started worrying slightly when he had still not regained consciousness almost 18 hours after he had been injured. Madam Pomfrey had of course given him 24 hours before which if he dint wake up, he would have to be carted off to St Mungos.

Though she had a book with her, she was hardly able to read more than a few pages as her concentration always wavered off; she ended up watching him, noticing every detail of his face. He looked so serene that she could keep staring at him without batting an eyelid.

Suddenly the alarm rang, it was time, she slowly moved her wand, as she tipped the potion in his mouth, she heard some undistinguished sound from his mouth. Her heart leapt, "Scorpius, can you hear me?" she murmured to him, "Scorp" she tried again, wondering if she had imagined him saying something a short while ago. "Wake up Scorp" she said pleadingly. "Ro..sie…" he said.

She immediately sent a patronus to Madam Pomfrey (she had received special permission to do that) who reached the common room so quickly that how she had made it so fast without apparating. The old nurse checked on Scorpius, with a satisfied smile on her face she gave Rose a pleased nod. He was getting better she had said before leaving as fast as she had come. Rose went back to her original position next to him, murmuring continuously to him in the hope that he would respond.


	7. Chapter 7 : Friendship & Love

**Thank you for the reviews! Pls do continue telling me what you like/do not like about this story/my writing etc :D**

**Chapter 7 – Friendship & Love**

Rose had dozed off sitting next to Scorpius who was still unconscious, when she heard someone knocking on the entrance to her dorm. She was startled at the sound, she rubbed her eyes to check the time, there was still time for the ministration of the next dose of the potion. She opened the door only to find Zara Zabini and Stan Nott standing looking completely lost and extremely worried. For a second she wondered what they were there for, but one look at their concerned faces and she let them in without another word.

"We are" started Zara, "I know" replied Rose and wordlessly took them to see Scorpius. Both Zara and Stan seemed unable to look at Scorpius as they grimaced and turned away. Rose looked at them curiously. Zara had started sobbing into Stan's chest who was consoling her but looked pretty distressed himself. They sat down in chairs far away from the bed but still could see Scorpius .

"When will he wake up?" Stan asked, though he wasn't looking at her, Rose understood this question to be for her. "He is getting better" Rose said more to convince herself than to answer the question.

Zara was crying again. She went and sat next to Scorpius in the seat that Rose had just vacated to let the duo in. Rose felt an irrational anger well up in her. "I am so sorry Scorpius" Zara cried holding his limp hand. Stan moved forward and put his hand around her.

"Its that…we…" Stan stammered unable to say anything.

"I know" said Rose coolly.

Stan and Zara looked at her in an expression of mingled shock and surprise.

"We dint mean it you know" Stan said now looking at Rose with a desperate expression.

Rose nodded curtly. Before she could stop herself, she had asked "Then why did you?"

"We..Zara and I, have known each other all our lives. We were best friends, Scorp was a good friend but not as close as we were, until we came to Hogwarts! Though we were sorted into different houses, Scorp in Ravenclaw and the both of us in Slytherin, our friendship got stronger. We were close. Then suddenly last year, Scorp asked Zara out and she accepted. I was ok, Scorp made sure I was ok. After a while it was not ok with me. I realized I had strong feelings for Zara. They made sure that I never felt left out, but that made things worse. The more I saw Zara with Scorp, the more I became miserable. I …I just flipped. Then I told myself, I would maintain distance, so this vacation even though Zara and I were in the same house as our parents had made their plans together, I made sure I avoided her. I just kept to myself. She confronted me on Hogwart's express and …and I finally lost it and confessed my love to her and she broke down too and we kissed. He…He saw us then." Stan stopped speaking unable to continue.

Zara stifled a sob.

Rose looked at her. "I love Stan in a way I can never love Scorp" she let out a small sob, "he felt betrayed I know, but..If only"

"He understood, you know" Rose said softly.

Both Zara's and Stan's eyes were on Rose now. "He was upset that you both had betrayed him, not let him know. He had walked in on his girlfriend and best friend kissing, he was obviously hurt but he thinks you both are meant to be, he told me that." Rose said looking at the unconscious form of Scorpius intently.

They sat in silence for some time, until the alarm rang.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to attend to Scorp" Rose said briskly.

"Thank you Rose" Zara said hugging Rose. Rose was startled but managed to pat the Slytherin girl lightly on her head.

When Zara and Stan walked out, they saw Rose making some complex wand movements. What they dint hear was Rose whispering to Scorpius holding his hand with both hers, "your friends dint betray you Scorpius..it was just love"

"Ro..se" he said again.

"Wake up Scorp, its nearly time, please wake up" Rose said urgently unable to keep the desperation out of her voice.

She kept talking to him, until he finally fluttered his eyes open. He looked at her weakly obviously unable to comprehend his situation.

Rose quickly sent another Patronus to Madam Pomfrey, who as expected was there in no time.

"How are you feeling now dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked Scorpius kindly.

"I..I feel heavy.." he said looking dazed.

This elicited a short laugh from Madam Pomfrey, "But of course young man, you are under a very heavy potion, but otherwise do you feel any pain or discomfort?"

He took some time but said "No".

"Well great then! Ms Weasley I hope you can continue the ministrations? Or would you like some rest?" She added the last bit kindly.

"Oh no Ma'm I'll take care of him" she replied brightly.

Madam Pomfrey gave Rose an odd look but gave her a quick smile and left immediately.

"Rose?" Scorpius asked her inquisitively "What happened?"

Rose recounted the events that transpired that had led him to his state of unconsciousness. Then explained with difficultly her role in it and blushed profusely as she did.

She saw a small smile on his face. She was thankful that he was not well enough to smirk, that smirk would've been the undoing of her.

He let her do all the talking while he listened. He sat up for a while when he had to take the potion again. The potion had tasted so horrible he wanted to throw up, but she helped him swallow it instead with the spell she had used all along. He was grateful, he asked her to sit next to him on the bed. As soon as she did, he put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, "What would I do without you Rose?" he murmured as he slipped off into sleep. Rose tried to free herself but his grip was strong. She finally managed to fall asleep as well. Since Madam Pomfrey had asked her to reset the potion alarm clock to 3 hours as he was awake now, she slept the longest she had in the last 24 hours. When the alarm went off, she woke up with a start, only to realize Scorpius was awake and watching her.

She looked away awkwardly. He however continued staring at her.

"You need to drink the potion Scorp" She said quickly recovering from her embarrassment and hurrying forward to take the potion. "I'll drink it" he said, taking the potion from her and drinking it, this time without the use of the spell.

"Oh then I think I'll leave" Rose said, wringing her fingers. Scorpius looked at her and nodded "sure, but make sure you are back in 5 mins" he said seriously.

"Uh? I am not your house elf Malfoy!" she said sternly but turned away smiling, expecting him to say she was. She heard him say softly "I know Rose, you are not!"


	8. Chapter 8 : Exes & Friends

Thank u for ur lovely reviews Shymamalamasamakun, Loslote, AndyPox, Percy'shellokitty32,  
>twilightlover212. Special Thank you to littlegonemad :) Please do leave in ur reviews and suggestions, they mean a lot to me!<p><strong>Chapter 8 – Exes and friends<strong>

Nobody was explicitly identified as the culprit for the mess at the Quidditch pitch, though Marcus Flint did seem to get more detentions than ever. Rose was determined to give him a few detentions herself, though this went against her mum's teachings, it did go with her dad's ways she thought. However, Scorpius asked her to let sleeping dragons lie. So she grudgingly let go of the issue, for the time being.

When she told Scorpius of the visit he had received from Zara and Stan, he had refused to hear her out, throwing a fit. When she refused to talk to him post that, he apologized, albeit reluctantly. She told him the entire sequence of events that had transpired and he felt oddly lighter.

She noticed that Scorpius was scheduling their weekly Patrols together. Though this was not against the rules, she felt guilty about enjoying her patrols so much. They would talk like normal teens sometimes, they would fight like Weasley and Malfoy that they were, they would discuss head duties like head boy and head girl, they would quiz each other on subjects like NEWT level students. Though they never got around to saying or acknowledging it, they were now best of friends.

Though an occasional thought did cross her mind on how she was getting more and more attached to Malfoy, she swatted the thought away easily under the guise of an easy friendship she had formed with him. So easy in fact, she almost felt like she was with her family, a comfort she had never experienced before with anyone else outside the family; not even with Alice or Anita. She actually loved the fact that Scorpius kept her intellectually stimulated. Their conversations never were mundane. Sometimes their debates sounded like they were warring, yet it never affected the way they treated each other. She smiled unconsciously.

"A knut for your thoughts" she heard Scorpius say.

She looked up to find Scorpius lounging in his usual seat eyeing her with interest.

"Did you know that expression is derived from a muggle expression?" She asked smiling slightly.

"Uh? Oh I think I just remembered something.." Scorpius pretended to walk away but stayed put.

She was laughing now. He joined in the laughter. To a complete outsider the scene would've looked weird, but then not to the two of them. It was like a routine, she would say something and he would call her a know-it-all and they would argue. Lately though even things they argued on seemed funny.

"So, Hogsmeade- this weekend?" , It was not a question, it was more like a statement.

"Sorry to disappoint you Malfoy" She stressed on the use of his surname. "I have other plans" she smirked slightly. Staying around a Malfoy does that to you and that smirk is addictive thought Rose smilingly.

"Define other plans, Weasley" He had misunderstood her smirk and the smile she noticed.

"None of your Business Malfoy" she turned around pretending to be busy with her books, while struggling to stop smiling.

"Of course it is my business" his voice was raised. She turned around surprised, her eyebrows shot up.

"I mean.." he stammered "uh..umm ..we have stuff to do for the Christmas Ball" he finally added coherently.

Rose watched him, he was right, they did have things to do as heads, "Alright we can do that in about 3 hours I believe, I'll be there for that duration" she replied crisply again looking at her books.

When she looked up, she noticed he wasn't anywhere around.

"Well that was interesting" She noted.

It was the Hogsmeade weekend and Rose was walking towards the wizarding village alone making plans for the day. She did need to meet up with Albus; it had been a long time since she had had a proper conversation with her favourite cousin. Though she looked out for Hugo, who now in the fifth year needed space as he had put it, she still worried about him to some extent and trusted Lily to be there for him. It was while walking lost in thoughts that she heard someone calling her.

"Oi Weasley, wait!"

She turned around to find Scorpius running to catch up with her. She rolled her eyes at the sight.

"I thought you were going with someone Weasley", He asked panting.

"Well I'm going to meet up with the "someone" in Hogsmeade" She walked on.

His face fell slightly but promptly rearranged itself to project a casual air about him. "So who is it?" He asked in an offhand manner.

"How does that matter to you, Malfoy?" She asked trying to keep the smile out of her voice.

"Well.." he started slowly "I thought since you are the head girl and I'm the head boy.."

They had now stopped walking and Rose was watching his face with interest, she was not sure what she would hear and whether she wanted to hear it. Something prevented her from stopping him though.

"umm Rose, I thought maybe we could go together for the ball, that is , If you want to go with me" He finished rather lamely.

She looked stricken. She had promised someone already, but now her heart was being a traitor, it wanted to coax her brain to accept the offer.

"I'm sorry Scorpius, but I have already promised to go with someone else" she gulped.

"Oh" he looked blank, "alright then"

She stared at him, unable to comprehend on how to let him know she was truly sorry.

"So, are you meeting him today?" he asked stiffly.

"What? Uh no. No. No. No" She replied vehemently.

She saw his expression clear up lightly. "oh alright." He said.

Then added, now in a brighter tone "Maybe I should get myself a date too eh? Before all the girls are taken."

"Technically, all the girls can't be taken you know! " She said in a stern voice.

He laughed, "but of course we need to discuss statistical possibilities of getting girls now". He was smirking " Rose! Give it a rest!" he said before she could open her mouth.

Then they bickered most of the way, until they bumped into two people.

Zara Zabini and Stan Nott.

They looked at Scorpius while he refused to look at them.

"Hi Zara, Stan" Rose said cheerfully attempting to break the tension.

"Hi Rose" Said Zara and Stan automatically, then added "Scorpius"

Scorpius was looking away defiantly. Rose noticed the piteous expressions on the faces of the couple and felt a tinge of sadness for them. As much as they had betrayed Scorpius, they haven't had the best time together, having to live with the guilt.

"Scorp" Rose said softly tugging at his elbows. He looked at her, she was pleading with her eyes to him.

"I should've …we should've.. we dint mean it to happen Scorp" It was Stan Nott trying to apologise and explain. Zara was now sniffing audibly.

"Its alright" Scorpius said suddenly. "I..I know, I mean, Its alright, its ok, I understand" . He gave Stan a manly hug and Zara an awkward pat on the back.

After a few more exchanged words, they said their goodbyes. Zara hugged Rose thanking her and left with Stan looking visibly happier.

She looked at Scorpius, who was looking away, "For a Slytherin, she hugs a lot" Rose commented in an attempt to break the silence. Scorpius scoffed. "For a Gryffindor, you hardly hug" he teased her.

"oh, I don't think I'll take such a slight against my house, Malfoy" and on an impulse she hugged him.

It took him a full minute to realize she was actually hugging him, but then he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. When they broke apart, Rose's ears were red while Scorpius had a huge smirk plastered on his face. They were in a considerably better mood for the rest of the way.

"I need to go" she said suddenly when they reached Hogsmeade, indicating the Three broomsticks.

"ok" he said with no emotion.

"I'll meet you after lunch" she said, he shook his head moodily.

She turned around to leave.

"Rose" she heard him call her softly. "Who are you meeting?" he asked staring at her intently.

"Albus" she said without thinking mesmerized by the intensity of his eyes.

"Your cousin?" the effect of the answer was akin to the use of the cheering charm on him. He waved at her as she disappeared from sight, she waved back smiling happily.

It was just friendship she reasoned to herself. She thought she could hear her brain sneer at her, but chose to ignore it. They were friends she told herself firmly walking into the 3 broomsticks.


	9. Chapter 9 : Realisations one too many

**twilightlover212, Loslote, littlegirlgonemad thank u loads for the reviews! :) They mean a lot to me!**

**Actually I think Rose & Scorpius are going to take quite a while to really really get there, if you know what I mean (clue- the L word)**

**Disclaimer stands - the characters, the world -its all the wonderful, incredible and untouchable JK Rowling's!**

**Chapter 9 – Realisations one too many**

"Do you like him Rose?" That was the question that came out of Albus Severus Potter's mouth once he heard their entire story from her (Scorpius & Rose -edited version presented by Rose of course!).

"Of course Al, he is a good friend" she replied carefully avoiding his eye and drinking her butterbeer.

"You know I don't mean it that way." Al replied deliberately avoiding a confrontation yet staying on course.

"Well, what do you think Al, he is a Malfoy and I, on the other hand am a Weasley. Enough said." She said dramatically looking around the 3 broomsticks for an escape, she spotted Anita and Alice and waved at them.

They came over and that put an end to Al's questioning session.

After she had spent a good amount of time chatting and having fun, she glanced at the watch to see she was already late.

"Merlin, I'm late!" She got up instantly, gathering her belongings.

"I've to go meet Scorpius" she said, addressing her friends in general. "For head duties Al" she added noticing Al's raised eyebrows.

"ooh Scorpius" said Anita Patil.

"Not Malfoy" Winked Alice Longbottom.

"oh ya ya" she said sarcastically. "He is a friend" she said forcefully one last time and rushed off waving at them.

She hurried over to their promised meeting place to find him waiting there already. She steeled herself, for she knew he would be angry with her.

"Scorp, I'm sorry" she started but he stopped her.

"Thought you stood me up, Weasley!" He nodded lightly and asked her to follow him.

"So, who are you going to the ball with?" He asked in a would-be casual voice.

"Lysander" She said mechanically as she was thinking about his out of nature reaction.

"Scamander?" He asked surprised.

She realized ruefully that she had spilt her secret without intending to. "ya, how many Lysanders do you know anyway?"

"Do you like him?" He asked carefully peering into her face as if trying to decipher her expressions.

"Sure, I've known him all my life as my parents and Aunt Luna are friends. Oh and Aunt Luna is Lysander's mom" she added the last bit unnecessarily.

"No, not like that, I mean" Scorpius stumbled on words in order to find the perfect question, finally gave up on it.

"oh ok" she said comprehension dawning, "I do like him, but lets see what happens after the ball" she winked at Scorpius mischievously and walked ahead.

As Scorpius watched her going, something dint feel right, he just couldn't place what!

Until a week before the Ball, Rose and Scorpius were neck deep in arrangement, head duties et all. One day though Scorpius came into their dorm in a positively cheerful mood, Rose couldn't help noticing. She closed the book she was reading and watched him.

"What? I have finally found a perfect girl to go with me to the ball" He grinned at her.

"Perfect girl?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"Oh she is perfect" He replied dreamy eyed.

"Ok" Rose said curtly and went back to reading her book.

"Rose?" He sat on the rug next to her. She passed him a side glance.

"Can you practice for the dance with me? I don't want to make a complete fool of myself in front of her" He replied impishly.

Rose considered him for a moment, but then decided to give in. Before she could say anything more he had pulled her along to dance. She smiled at his enthusiasm, something he rarely exhibited in such an open manner.

She put her hand on his shoulder, while he put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer. She felt her breath constrict. It's just a dance she told herself. He had swirled her and twirled her until she was completely lost in the dance, in him. Then he dipped her, she couldn't take her eyes off him as seemed to be the case with him as well. She felt his warm breath on her face as she realized they were seconds away from kissing; another realization that struck her was that she wanted this kiss, quite desperately.

ROSE..She heard someone calling her name, banging on the door to her dorm. She wrenched herself away from Scorpius and rushed to open the door. It was Alice and Anita reminding her of their plans as Scorpius heard it. She stole a glance at him to find him looking furious. She quickly closed the door behind her and left with the girls wondering what had just happened.

When she came back, she found him solving some problems in ancient runes. He looked at her briefly and nodded at her. They were back to being cordial to each other she realized. The week went by quickly and the day of the ball arrived, there was a palpable amount of excitement in the air.  
>Even teachers had given up and avoided giving complicated essays or spells as homework and instead resorted to simple homework that would at least be done, they hoped.<p>

Rose knew Scorpius was taking Anita Patil to the ball, her own friend, she fumed. However she had to admit that he had to take someone, besides he had asked her first. It was her fault, all her fault she thought furiously. She had been lying in the bath while a debate of catastrophic proportions was taking place inside her head. Her sane side was telling her that her decision to go with Lysander was perfect, he was after all close to her family, in addition to being smart, handsome and in all likelihood the only normal member of his family. Locarn, his twin had taken after Aunt Luna while Rolf Scamander was too lost in his own world to be considered normal. These thoughts made her brain accuse her of being more Slytherin than Gryffindor.

She remembered gingerly that the sorting hat was quite enthusiastic to put her in Slytherin; it had placed her in Gryffindor only because she had beseeched the hat to do so. She couldn't imagine the look on her father's face had she been a Slytherin. If there was anything she hated the most in the world, it was to disappoint her family. Which is why it is Scamander not Malfoy for me, she told herself clearly.

"Are you planning to drown yourself?" She heard an irritated voice calling out to her from outside the bath.

"No, just taking a bath, Malfoy" She tried to stay polite as she knew she had been there for hours.

"oh good, can I join you?" He drawled.

"Sure" she replied sarcastically. "Make sure you leave your clothes outside" she replied in the same vein. She bit her tongue the instant she said it.

"why not" he replied, the smirk evident in his tone

"Sod off Malfoy"

"Make it fast" He added after a pause "we have lots of work to do", she heard him walking away.

It was harmless flirting, she told herself. It was nothing, it was not even flirting, it was just easy banter she consoled herself. Besides, why was she even thinking of Scorpius? She had so much to do, she deflected her thoughts and after almost an hour was ready for the ball.

She looked at herself in the mirror, not bad she thought, her golden gown made of silk with trimmings of lace, occasional gold sequins well embedded in the dress made it look like she was glowing. She was glad her mum had sent her the dress, she was sure she would never choose something that good on her own. She would've probably decided it was too showy. She made a quick mental note to send her mom a Thank you Owl.

She found Lysander waiting for her just outside the entrance to her common room. She smiled easily as he complimented her. She was glad she was going with an old family friend, somebody she had known most of her life. They walked towards the great hall that was enchanted to perfection to reflect the occasion. The decorations were befitting the early Christmas they were celebrating with the ball as most students would go home for Christmas. They were before time; she excused herself from her date and went for a quick check to ensure that every prefect was patrolling as per schedule. Other than setting up the entire ball, they were also responsible for the security of the students which meant every prefect had to take turns to patrol during the ball.

Once the ball was in full swing with almost the entire crowd expected present, Rose started enjoying herself. She hadn't seen Scorpius yet, she wondered if he was patrolling but remembered they were supposed to oversee, so no patrol had been scheduled for the Head boy and girl. Lysander asked her for a dance which she happily obliged. She was having fun in his company, he talked about things that were common between them, she felt comfortable, he danced pretty well too. However at every turn even while dancing her eyes searched through the crowd for someone.

"You look beautiful, Rose" Lysander said as they danced to a muggle song that had been quite a rage in the wizarding world as well. She looked at him surprised, "Well Thank you Lysander" .

She realized at that instant that he meant that as a genuine compliment and that his asking her out was more than just for the ball. He obviously wanted something more; maybe he even wanted to ask her out. The thoughts were oddly discomfiting as much as she had, less than hours ago, wanted this to happen, she understood right there dancing with Lysander that she dint want it.

"I'm thirsty, lets go get something to drink" she said abruptly.

"Sure" he said, leading her to one of the tables and went to get the drinks.

She sat with her eyes closed, calming herself, when she heard a voice that caused her to jerk her eyes open.

"Dance with me" It was Scorpius Malfoy standing in front of her with his hand outstretched towards her.


	10. Chapter 10 : Its Magic!

**Thank u littlegirlgonemad, Taylur, Iceblossom22, twligihtlover212, AndyPox, Loslote & NegligibleNaina for your reviews, they mean the world to me :)**

Now for the dance! :) I hope you like it!

**Chapter 10 – Its Magic**

"Dance with me" It was Scorpius Malfoy standing in front of her with his hand outstretched towards her. He smiled at her as she placed her hand gracefully in his. She couldn't help returning the smile. She barely noticed even the colour of his robes as her eyes were mesmerized by his. When they reached the dance floor, as if on cue a slow melody played, they positioned themselves just as they had practiced only a week earlier.

They moved slowly, without breaking their eye-contact, it was like a connection they didn't want to lose. She felt his arm comfortably placed around her waist sometimes seeking to pull her closer to him. This was what she desired, there was this indescribable chemistry between them that she knew was there with no other. Not him with Anita, not her with Lysander, it was there only with each other.

When he twirled her and pulled her back to him possessively, he felt something around them. He couldn't quite place what it was, but it was like the rest of the dance floor was blocked from his vision and his eyes could see only her. Something was falling on them he noted absently somewhere in the back of his mind, just then it didn't matter. His eyes were only on her. She was blushing furiously under his steady gaze.

"You are beautiful" He said simply. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She was blushing even more, if that was possible. She tried to say something but stopped herself for she didn't trust her voice to stay steady so she simply nodded. Slowly she put her head onto his chest; she was surprised but happy to find that his heart was beating fast too, as fast as hers. She wrapped her hands around him while he instinctively tugged her even closer. There were many songs that seemed to have been played, but they remained quite lost in each other.

"Rose" the voice that called her name brought them both to their senses. It was Al looking like he had walked in on his parents kissing. Rose and Scorpius were looking at his face directly and he looked uneasy as he said, "Well there has been an incident and one of the prefects patrolling wanted me to inform you both about it".

"What sort of incident?" The question was out of both their mouths at once. They looked at each other briefly then looked at Al for more information. "There are some students who have gotten too high on Fire whiskey and are creating havoc, the prefects wanted you to be informed before informing the teachers" he added apologetically.

Rose had a scowl on her face while Scorpius had knit his eye brows.

"I'll go check this out, you stay here!" Scorpius said.

"I'll come with you!" Rose replied fervidly. He gave her a searching look and nodded briefly, then they set off after thanking Al.

Al stared at the receding figure of Rose, he could not believe what he had just seen, maybe he had imagined it, surely he didn't have such a vivid imagination. He looked up at the enchanted ceiling of the great hall, yes he had seen it happen. He went to sit next to Alice Longbottom, she was looking at her date Matt Davis with distaste, he was dancing with a group of girls who were falling all over him and he was obviously enjoying himself.

"Did you see that?" Al asked Alice not sure if she had noticed anything other than the completely horrible (according to him at least!) Davis.

"Everybody did" It was Lily who answered; she had come from behind and was now sitting next to Alice. Al noticed Hugo making way towards the table with his date in tow. He looked around for Anita only to find her dancing with Lysander.

"It couldn't have happened? Could it? I mean things like that don't just happen do they?" It was Alice trying to inject some sense of reason into the proceedings.

"Well, it did happen, didn't it? Right in front of our eyes" It was Hugo's date who spoke up. Everybody turned their attention towards her, she coloured slightly, but carried on determinedly "I heard Prof Flitwick say its ancient magic – very rare".

They all looked at each other, "Is it because they are Head boy and girl?" Hugo asked to no one in particular. Alice shrugged. Albus however had a strong feeling that it had nothing to do with them being Head boy and girl, but decided not to say anything. After all he didn't really know the truth.

By the time Rose and Scorpius had sorted the issue of the drunk teenagers going berserk, the ball was almost over. As they walked towards the great hall together, they didn't utter a word except when they had to disperse many couples along the way as it was way past the extended curfew time. Scorpius was the first to notice a guy pulling a girl along who was laughing merrily, he glanced worriedly at Rose only to find her looking at the couple as well. It was Lysander and Anita, giving their respective dates a cold look. Anita however looked at Rose and gave her a small smile.

"I think you both need to get back to your common rooms, its past the curfew" said Scorpius crisply. He continued to walk ahead, Rose joined him immediately. He glimpsed at her, she had her eyes down cast, she seemed slightly affected, he wanted to comfort her, but decided against it.

They were tired and exhausted by the time they wrapped up everything in the Great Hall and returned to their dorm. They simply waved each other goodbyes and went to their rooms almost immediately and were asleep the minute they hit their beds.


	11. Chapter 11 : Kiss & Tell

**Thank u for your lovely reviews of the last chapter :) I'd like to apologize for the delay, lets just say its to do with my ignorance of the Beta process and the site in general. Between making connections and sending Docx etc quite a lot of time went by! I have written quite a bit of this story and its sad when I am unable to post it as frequently as I'd like to.**

**Special love to Iceblossom22 my lovely beta :) Thank u for ur patience! **

**Also, I do tend to write "dint" instead of "didn't" an old habit that refuses to die, apologies in advance about that. Though I'm taking a conscious effort to avoid it!**

**Do tell me what u think about this chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer - JK Rowling owns it all, potter , pottermore (I got in *yay*)..everything :)**

**Part 11 – Kiss & Tell**

It was the morning after the ball. Scorpius watched lazily as warm water filled up the bath, then he heard explosions from Rose's room. He rushed in to investigate. Luckily the door was open but the sight that awaited him was unusual to say the least. Rose was unexpectedly bursting fireworks from her wand, a maniacal expression on her face. He looked at the various shapes and sizes the fireworks were taking, they were obviously very innovative designs from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but he couldn't quite place the occasion.

When she looked up at him, he noted a manic glint in her eyes. She burst another one with her wand. This one emitted a loud bang and blasted off the walls.

He caught her wrist while she was aiming at another firework that was spinning around. She withdrew her hand in protest but dropped her wand in the process. He picked up her wand and stuffed it in his pocket. She tried to grab her wand back but he had stuffed it into his back pocket and she was not about to touch his arse.

"Stop" he said calmly.

She looked disgruntled but stopped her efforts to reach the wand.

"Rose, whats wrong?" He asked in a gentle yet firm voice.

"Nothing" she said without looking at him.

"Rose? Tell me" He asked his voice firmer and much more persuasive.

"It's the dance" She answered slowly.

She felt his steady eyes on her. She pulled her leg up and wrapped her hand around it, resting her forehead on her knees.

He waited for her to speak further.

"Lysander asked Anita out yesterday" She spoke in a small voice. She waited for his reaction but she got none. She tilted her head a little to catch the expression on his face, his eyes watching her intently.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she snapped.

"How does it matter?" He asked, she looked at with her eyebrows furrowed clearly indicating her annoyance. "Do you care about Lysander?" He continued seriously, ignoring her expression.

She looked taken aback. "No, I mean yes!" She said now looking confused. He narrowed his eyes at her reaction. "No, Merlin, Its not like I like Lysander or anything, but he was MY date" She said pointing to herself and emphasizing on the _MY, "_He can't just start dating your date" she went on, turning the finger towards him now.

He considered her reaction for a second and burst out laughing. She watched him hold his sides and laugh, her anger was slowing ebbing away.

"Stop" she said finally in a voice that sounded more like her normal self.

"I don't find it so funny" she added.

He immediately sobered up. "I'm sorry, but I thought it was funny that you were ready to burn this beautiful room down for a lousy date!"

"Do not call my date lousy" she fired up again. "You don't get it!"

"No I don't, try and explain it to me" He replied trying not to smirk.

"I was his date, he complimented me, danced with me for 2 songs, paid attention to me, went to get me drinks, then I dance with you for a while and we have to leave due to some morons getting drunk and when I come back I find he is taking my friend Anita with him, I try not to react and today morning Anita comes and tells me..that ..that he asked her out" She ended morosely.

When he didn't reply, she looked up at him.

"Do you know how long we danced together?" He asked her in a low voice.

She stared back at him, she racked her brain, she knew for sure she danced to 2 songs with Lysander, but with Scorpius, she tried to count, she dint remember any breaks, she dint remember anything much except the crackling chemistry she felt, she flushed and looked away from him.

She didn't see him smiling. "We danced for almost 3 hours" he informed her.

She turned to face him in shock "We did not!"

Scorpius laughed lightly, "yes we did Rose, how do you expect your date to sit around, or mine for that matter, waiting for us to get free to dance with them?"

Rose nodded her head "Its all fine, but then how can he start dating her just like that"

"Why?" Scorpius asked her suspiciously. "Don't tell me you planned to have him ask you out?" he let out a mirthless laughter.

She remained silent. That answered his question.

"Do you like him?" He asked faintly aggravated.

"No" She answered.

"Then?" he asked sounding completely confused now.

"Well" She replied drawing in a deep breath "I wanted to eventually date him" she turned to look at Scorpius "oh don't you see? He is just perfect, he is smart, good looking, caring, a long time friend and most importantly my family would love him" she explained as if to a 5 year old. "He is perfect for me".

The expression on Scorpius' face was unreadable.

"That's very Slytherin of you" He remarked coolly.

She turned her head towards him looking vary. "So I've been told!" she replied rudely, but continued in a softer tone "I had to beg the sorting hat to place me in Gryffindor, it kept saying, though I was brave I would make a better Slytherin. I couldn't imagine how disappointed my family would be had I been in Slytherin", she shuddered.

" and YOU" she said suddenly turning towards him completely and pointing an accusing finger at him,

"Why did you have to ruin my perfect plans?" and then she raved and ranted for some more time.

Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted from the bed, before she knew it, Scorpius had picked her up, crossed her door and thrown her into the, now filled with water, bath.

He sat on the side and watched as she spluttered at first and then started shouting at him.

"Help me out of here" She said completely disheveled and unable to move properly due to her clingy clothes.

"Calm down first" He sounded bored.

She took a few calming breaths, "Ok, I'm ok" She said holding out her hand for him to pull her up. He extended his hand towards her, he didn't realize how he reached the water, his best guess was of course that she had pulled him down, which was confirmed when he saw her laughing hysterically.

He couldn't take his eyes off her. Her red hair was all over the place, her eyes were filled with tears of laughter, her laughter itself sounded crazy and she had just driven him mad with the most insane conversation, yet he felt inexplicably drawn to her. He moved towards her, in a swift motion he put his hand around her waist. She stopped laughing immediately; she looked into his deep eyes and was lost in them.

He pecked her lips softly and watched her eyes to find confusion and gratification swirling in them.

"You were not the only one who had to beg the sorting hat" He said still holding her and staring into her eyes.

"What?" She asked finally finding her voice "You were supposed to be in Slytherin too?"

"No, Gryffindor" He replied smiling openly.

He started chuckling at the confused expression on her face.

"Rose Rose Rose! Its not just you, I have a family too, as much as I wanted to carve my own identity, I didn't want to give them a heart attack, so with a choice of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw it was!"

"I would've never guessed! You don't seem so brave" She said playfully.

"I thought kissing a Lioness in her den was a brave act!" He replied smirking broadly.

She blushed a bit, then held his face and kissed him full mouth.

"Now that I would say is courage" she said brightly and left him standing in the middle of the bath looking like he had had another bludger attack.


	12. Chapter 12 : Unsaid Feelings

**Hey there! Sorry this took a while, I'm not sure this is fully beta'ed, I hope it is :) If it isn't, I promise to reload the part with changes.**

**Thank u Iceblossom22 :)**

**Incase u've forgotten, the story so far is Rose & Scorpius are Head girl and boy, slowly become friends, attend the ball where something unusual happens when they dance together and the next day, erm they kiss. **

**(that is as brief as it gets when it comes to summaries *face palm*)**

**Part 12 – Unsaid Feelings**

Rose tried to assimilate everything happening around her. Her mind flashed briefly to the ball, she hadn't really given much thought about it earlier. The ball had ended on an unhappy note and Anita's early morning visit had ensured that her entire attention was on anything but Scorpius. Now however, she felt compelled to think about the ball, about their magical dance, about their morning conversation and the kiss or rather a peck by him and a kiss by her.

She couldn't make sense of her behavior leave alone his. She had felt happier dancing with Scorpius, No matter how well she knew Lysander, she felt indefinably more comfortable with Scorpius.

She dressed and left for the classes before him, she needed time to think alone. On her way to Charms, she saw Lysander holding hands with Anita, she felt neither angry nor jealous, to her surprise. That could be because she didn't really like him in a special way, she reasoned.

She caught Anita looking at her and responded with a reassuring smile. She wondered how she would react had it been Scorpius with some other girl and felt herself getting irate at the mere thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of their charms professor, Filius Flitwick. She was glad it was a class that she was ahead of the lessons thus giving her ample time to think. She wondered vaguely where Scorpius was, it was not like him to miss classes.

Her eyes constantly flickered towards the entrance of the class. His arrival though was unexpected as it was almost midway through the class, their eyes met briefly, she was glad to notice that he seemed alright. She caught some stray words of his explanation to Prof Flitwick like "Mc Gonagall" "work", who was in turn genially nodding his head. Scorpius took his seat next to her and flashed an uncomfortable smile at her. The events that happened (carefully avoiding specifying the events _again_) she thought, that had to be it, the reason why he looked so unlike himself.

"Where were you?" She asked him in a low voice while Prof Flitwick was busy correcting the wand movements of her classmates for the silencing charm they were practicing. She and Scorpius had managed to silence their frogs instantly as they had learnt the charm in their sixth year, Prof Flitwick however thought it was important for the class to revise some important charms for their NEWT exams.

"I was checking out the photographs" He replied cryptically.

She gave him a confused look; she noticed he was looking at every single person in the class but her.

"Scorpius" she hissed, "Can you not be so ambiguous? "

"Well, I went to check out the pictures of the ball, Creevey has developed them, I was supposed to collect them for McGonagall, I forgot earlier today morning" he quickly explained still not looking at her.

"Oh! You were in charge of the pictures" It was a statement and a completely unnecessary one, but his behavior was now irking her.

"Come with me to the dorm after this class, I want to show you something" He said looking at her briefly then again turning his gaze away.

"Ok" she said dully. Of course, this had to do with the morning events, maybe even the ball, he would want to make it clear that he didn't mean anything etc etc, The very thought infuriated her though she couldn't for the life of her figure out what she wanted to hear.

Prof Flitwick only made a brief visit to their desk, giving an approving nod and smile to Rose & Scorpius for their wonderful demonstration of the silencing charm, but for the rest of that session, it did look like they had placed the same charm on each other as well.

They walked back in silence to their dorm after the charms class. She felt an anxious hesitation build in her as they continued to walk and her every attempt to catch his eye failed as he resolutely looked away. The moment they both were safe in their common room, she couldn't stop herself anymore questioned him in an anxious voice "What is it Scorpius, why are you acting all mysterious?"

He looked up at her in surprise. Clearly he hadn't noticed he was acting "mysterious" like Rose had said. "Oh its nothing, I was just a bit..er..disoriented after today morning" he started.

Her insides sunk, it was exactly what she had expected, she steeled herself for the rest of his confession.

"So" he continued completely oblivious to Rose's emotions, "I was walking towards the charms class and realized I had to check out the pictures from Creevey" he continued while she felt more confused than ever. "I think I already told you that" he let out a sigh. "Well yeah the thing is", he suddenly picked one of the pictures that was lying on the table right in front of them that she had not noticed all along.

"See this" he whispered.

She took the picture from his hands and froze.

It was a picture of them dancing in the ball, but that was not what caught her attention.

They looked at each other awkwardly.

"I think I see why Lysander was so angry" she said in a trying to be calm voice.

The name of Lysander seemed to make him unreasonably annoyed. "Well yeah" he said angrily, then added after a pause "So why did you kiss me again today morning, Weasley?"

She was aggravated by his question "because you kissed me first, Malfoy" she replied her voice shaking with emotion and pointing an accusing finger at him.

Something seemed to snap in him "Does everything have to be about competition Weasley? I pecked you for Merlin's sake, you don't have to do one better on me!" he was now shouting.

"Competition?" she mouthed incredulously. "Are you really that thick Malfoy?" she asked shaking with fury.

He looked mollified for the moment. She took the silence as an opportunity to finally let out her frustration. "I can understand you not wanting to kiss me, but don't you stand there and accuse me of being competitive about kissing and all" she spat out "..you, you get that Malfoy! You were standing there looking incredibly irresistible and I was trying to tell myself that I shouldn't harbor such thoughts and you come and peck me and break all my resistance and stand there and ..and" she had turned a horrible shade of red as she realized what she had blurted out in her moment of indignation.

Even though she was staring at the ground willing it to open up and swallow her, she couldn't miss the shadow of a grin that was evidently there on his face.

"Don't laugh at me" she said miserably.

She didn't initially realize that he had enveloped her in a hug. She was however glad to hide her face in his chest to avoid further embarrassment.

"I'm sorry Rose" he said running his left hand through her hair, the right hand firmly around her waist. "I don't know what to say, I was extremely attracted to you too at that moment, I wanted to kiss you but then when I pecked you, I realized I might be crossing a line, so I stopped myself, when you kissed me and made it look so trivial, I thought you were not serious, it sort of set me off. Anyway, now I know I'm wrong, I'm sorry!" he sounded sincere.

She nodded into his chest.

He put his hand to her chin and brought it forward facing him, he slowly moved his face towards her lips and captured it in a soft kiss, she responded after a while, once the shock wore off. The kiss was exquisite. Both were unwilling to stop but did so eventually.

They collapsed into the nearby couch. To say her head was spinning would be an understatement she thought feeling disoriented not for the first time that day. She had just kissed Scorpius again and this time it was not impulsive or fun, it was a proper kiss, and it had felt undeniably good. However, they were just friends and nothing more, she was unable to think anymore.

"We shouldn't have kissed" she blurted out finally. He gazed at her for a few seconds then nodded his head agreeing with what she had said. She felt disappointment wash over her as she labored on "I think we can let it go, alright it happened, but as friends we should be able to just forget about it and move on". He was looking at her like he had never met her before, this unnerved her.

"Ok if you have a better idea spit it out Malfoy and quit looking at me like that" she sounded hurt.

"I think we should let it be, Rose, whats done is done" He said firmly.

"That's what I just said" She said in a low tone.

He smiled a bit, then laughed. She looked at his face confusion writ all over it. Why on earth was he laughing? What exactly was so funny about their situation she wondered.

"I think we should be friends who kiss" he said lightly.

She gagged. "What?" She asked louder than she intended to.

"Ok I was kidding, but I think we are over-reacting! Its just a kiss Rose, we'll live through it" His words swept over her bringing an unbelievable sense of calm to her mind.

"Right" She grinned, "Though I like the friends who kiss idea too".

He grinned back. "Come on Weasley, off to class we go" he said pulling her along.

It felt good to be able to set aside unusual feelings and stay friends Rose decided after all she was a Weasley and him, a Malfoy (a pretty good one at that she conceded)


	13. Chapter 13:Magic Explained & Unexplained

**Thank U so much for the lovely reviews :) This chapter explains the mysterious photograph :)**

**Do leave in your comments/reviews/criticism ...**

**Part 13 – Magic explained & unexplained**

The last day of the term had arrived and before she knew it was time for her to go home for the Christmas break. She loved going home for Christmas; it was when everyone in her family got together. Her family was explosive; they were exuberant and loud, wore their hearts on their sleeves yet would be there for each other in good times and bad. She couldn't imagine a life without her family being there to support her or irritate her for that matter.

In fact she remembered her mum and Uncle Harry telling her one holiday that it was exactly this that they missed while growing up. Uncle Harry was rather alone being orphaned at a young age and suffered throughout his childhood with his muggle relatives. Her mum was of course an only child, just like Scorpius she noted idly. She wondered if he would love to be a part of the Weasley family.

Wait. She froze, did she just think that? He cannot be a part of the Weasley family, he is a _Malfoy_, she told herself firmly. Even otherwise its not like he could be a part of her family unless Uncle Harry with his large hearted ways adopted him. She chuckled at the thought thoroughly ignoring the small truthful voice in her head that said there are other ways for Malfoy to be a part of the family and it had nothing to do with adoption of a certain blond head.

Her goodbye to Scorpius was preceded by an unusually long hug. She even imagined a forlorn expression on his face when they broke apart eventually. He had seemed normal enough on the journey back home when they had argued endlessly on the career options post Hogwarts. Their goodbye on the train was brief and was just a wave of the hand.

She was thrilled to find both her parents waiting for her, they always put aside work for her and Hugo. That she and Hugo were such an important part of her parents' lives made her feel very good. She saw that her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry were also there waiting for Al and Lily. She hugged her entire family in turn feeling atypically cheerful. She felt warmth spread through her, she was home for the holidays, she smiled broadly. She gave the station one final sweeping glance, she couldn't say she was looking for Scorpius but it would be ideal, she thought, if she did catch a glimpse of him and she did.

Al Potter was uncharacteristically restless since the Christmas ball in school, he wanted to speak to someone regarding what he had seen, but refused to be the one who gets Rose into trouble. He had been to Rose's house quite a few times that vacation and had no trouble flicking the picture of Rose and Scorpius from the ball.

Harry was having his evening Tea with Ginny and it was usually their private time that not even their kids disturbed. Al however, couldn't think of a better way to get answers to his questions. He went and sat next to his mum and dad, who knew instinctively that he had something on his mind.

They waited for him to speak, he knew he had to say something fast or his parents might end up thinking he had some unusual confession about getting some girl pregnant or some such impossibly outrageous stuff.

"Well" he started, he saw both his parents watching him with curiosity, "its regarding Rose". He waited a second to notice their expression, now there was genuine confusion on their faces. "um. Its nothing really, but I just wanted to ask you if you have seen anything like this" he pulled out the photograph of Rose and Scorpius from the ball and extended it to his parents. "That is Scorpius with Rose" he added unnecessarily. Harry moved closer to Ginny to get a better look at the picture, they stared at the moving images for a long time seemingly mesmerized. Al studied their expressions carefully; his mum looked genuinely uncertain while there seemed surprise and a certain understanding on his dad's face.

"Are they dating?" Ginny asked cautiously

"No" Al said shaking his head, "they are not, in fact they were not even each other's date for the ball"

"Do you know what this is Harry?" She asked turning towards her husband.

"I think I do" he nodded thoughtfully. Al waited with baited breath for the explanation, _finally_ he thought, even the Hogwart's library hadn't given him satisfactory answers, to be honest he was no Rose Weasley to know which book would have the answer, but he was his father's son for sure, he would find out somehow.

Ginny was looking at the photograph again, the moving figures of Rose and Scorpius dancing in the picture had eyes only for each other, there was an obvious chemistry that crackled through, but she was especially interested in the golden glow that seemed to have enveloped the dancing couple. She looked closely it seemed like she was looking at a snow globe, there was something that was falling on them, like glitter or shimmer, that was giving the glow effect. It was pure magic.

Ginny's was so lost in the picture that she was almost startled when she heard Harry speak. "I first heard of it from old Prof Flitwick. When I had gone to meet him regarding a rare case where we needed some help regarding the nature of the charms that were used by the dark wizard. After he had helped us with the case, our conversation had turned to how the Great Hall at Hogwarts was enchanted. That was when he mentioned about this magic, he said he had witnessed it very rarely, but the one time he remembered clearly was" Harry paused, both Ginny and Al were listening in rapt attention. "my mum and dad" he whispered the last 2 words.

Ginny reached out for his hand instinctively. Al stared at his father, "So does that mean Rose and Scorpius" he stopped not sure what he wanted to know.

Harry seemed to understand the question though, "Well from what Prof Flitwick told me, he thought it had to do with true love, yes they were head boy and girl too but I don't think that's the reason, I don't remember the 'heads' in the years I went to Hogwarts experiencing anything like this"

"Well, did you guys get a sparkle shower then?" Al asked seemingly unable to stop himself.

His parents laughed at this, "Well no" Ginny grinned looking at her husband "its not like your dad & I ever managed to dance in the great hall, the only time we went to a ball was in my third year, and we were dancing with other people then" . Harry smiled at the memory and added "I don't really remember dancing much honestly, well your mum here though was having a hard time avoiding your uncle Neville's foot".

Al looked slightly revolted at the information he had received making Harry and Ginny laugh out loud.

"So what about Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione?" He asked hopefully, after all they were a great couple too. Now Harry looked thoroughly amused, "Well they waited until the middle of the war to actually realize or rather act on their feelings so they didn't have much of a chance to dance in the great hall either!" Ginny was shaking with laughter now, "If Rose takes after her dad and mum, poor Scorpius will have to wait for a long time to finally have his true love".

Al was taken aback by his mother's statement, "You mean to say they are meant for each other?" he asked eyes widened.

It was Harry who answered the question. "Al, magic of that kind is very ancient which means it is very strong as well, you can't really stand under the enchanted ceiling and start dancing to figure out if the person is your true love, it doesn't work that way. History has been that till date the great hall has never been wrong."

"I'd like to see Ron's reaction" Ginny said lightly. Harry and Al smiled at this comment.

"Well before that my dear cousin has to realize her feelings! If I know her at all, she would simply ignore her feelings for the sake of everyone but herself" Al said shaking his head.

"When things are meant to happen, they will happen" Ginny said seriously, "Al, don't worry about it"

"yeah" Al said. "Thanks Dad, Mum"


	14. Chapter 14 : James' Tale

**Please do review! This is unbeta'd sorry :)**

**Chapter 14 –James' Tale**

Almost all her relatives noticed that Rose seemed happier than she ever was. Her family though thrilled to find her in great spirits all secretly wondered what had caused the change. Fred& Hugo had bet on her being head girl as the reason while Roxanne, Lucy & Molly thought she was in love, Dominique thought she was just exceptionally glad to be taking NEWT that year, after all she was Rose Weasley. It was Lily who said it was because of her new found friendship with Scorpius Malfoy.

None of her cousins really had anything against Scorpius, though they had grown up hearing stories about the Malfoys. He seemed like a decent bloke, was the general verdict, coupled with the fact that Rose wasn't actually dating a Malfoy seemed to make him acceptable even. Al stayed oddly silent his mind wheeling towards the conversation he had had with his parents.

Their entire conversation had come to a halt when Rose had come skipping to them happily announcing lunch without noticing the sudden hush that had fallen.

"I wouldn't mind her dating Scorpius, if he is the reason she seems so happy" said James lost in thought looking in the general direction she had gone in. Al realized with a jolt that his big brother had indeed grown up; he was no more the immature boy he was in school. He felt even more satisfied to hear murmurs of ascent from others as well.

Nobody spoke of it once Rose joined them after lunch and the conversations frittered over to various things of no importance. It was one of those rare get-togethers where everyone had returned majorly unhurt, except for minor bruises (Fred, Hugo & Louis) which were always overlooked.

Rose wondered if Scorpius would feel at home at the Burrow among her rowdy bunch of cousins, her over protective dad & uncles and of course the fawning mum & aunts and loving grandparents. _Erm..why would Scorpius have to feel at home at the burrow_?, it was the logical side of her brain mocking her. _If I invited him over as a friend of course_, she chided back. She shook her head like she were swatting off a particularly irritating fly.

"Everything alright Rosie?" James walked towards the tree she was lounging under, he then proceeded to sit down next to her on the grass.

James was not as close to her as Al was but he was like an older brother to her in some sense. Though their sensibilities were miles apart, he was the only one who truly understood her relentless need to make her family proud of her. Even though he was the captain of the Quidditch team, he had let her, his best seeker, go when she stopped playing in pursuit of the head girl role. Though he was often juvenile, he was also very perceptive and smart, a quality often overlooked due to his constant need to prank others. A year as a Professional Quidditch player had indeed changed him into a responsible person much to everyone's surprise.

"Sure, why do you ask James?" She asked taken aback.

"You seem different Rosie…" he stopped, looking at her astutely.

"well how?" She frowned unsure of what James was hinting at.

He decided to be honest "Well, you seem happier Rosie, has something happened?"

She was taken aback by the question. She never realized that there was an obvious change in her behavior, sure she felt it, but to be asked about it? She gaped at James opening and closing her mouth trying to figure out a suitable answer.

"Its Malfoy isn't it?" James asked narrowing his eyes.

Now she was truly astounded, she did look like a fish out of water.

She finally found her voice to answer "He is just a friend."

He watched her face as myriad expressions crossed it. "I didn't say he is anything else" He laughed.

She looked thoroughly embarrassed. To her surprise, he tried hard to reduce her discomfort instead of making it worse. If not anything he said, that alone helped her get over her awkwardness.

"Did you know that I actually like Malfoy?" He paused waiting to see her reaction to his unusual statement. As expected, she gasped. He looked amused.

"I get the reaction Rosie, you must be wondering how arrogant, snobbish, immature and more importantly blinded by Gryffindor pride James Sirius Potter could make such a statement about a supposed family enemy, a snake hiding in Ravenclaw like I once famously insulted him." He rambled on distastefully.

He continued, without waiting for a response. "You remember the time Ellie & I were going through a lot of problems in our relationship? It was in our final year, your sixth of course"

Rose nodded her head, everybody knew about the problems, though nobody knew what the issue was, if any, there was constant fighting that always escalated to shouting matches with both parties marching off in opposite direction muttering curses. They were clearly on the verge of a painful break-up.

"It was the day of the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor match and we had beaten Ravenclaw by a very small margin, we were celebrating our unbelievably close victory when suddenly Malfoy turned up outside our locker room requesting to talk to me. You can't imagine the amount of unruly comments that got thrown his way, after all he_ was_ the Ravenclaw captain. Yet he waited unflinchingly, ignoring every remark meant for him. When we were out of earshot he said he had found my girlfriend in the deserted corridor on the 4th floor and he felt she was going through a serious breakdown_. _I freaked out of course, he put his hand on my shoulder and led me calmly. I followed him blindly but when the feeling of panic subsided slightly, I wondered if it was a trap but somehow there was something trustworthy about him that you feel instinctively. It was no trap obviously, I found Ellie looking like a complete mess, Zara Zabini comforting her."

Rose who was listening to the anecdote in rapt attention looked slightly confused.

He continued "I know it is not a story where he saved me from a mountain troll and we became best friends for life" and grinned, watching Rose's lips curl into a smile as well.

"But..there was something so noble about a guy, who goes out of the way to help his rival, at least on the Quidditch field, especially when he has just been beaten. To leave his girlfriend to take care of Ellie and finding and telling me in person, it takes courage. I wonder why he was not chosen to be in Gryffindor?" James wondered the last part aloud

"Because he asked the sorting hat to put him in Ravenclaw apparently" Rose answered him.

"ah you do know much about him eh?" James sniggered making Rose blush again.

"So tell me what happened to Zabini?"

"She is with Nott now" Rose didn't see it necessary to mention the whole complication to James.

"Oh ok, I should've guessed, there was always that angle hanging there I have hardly seen Zabini & Malfoy without Nott, not even on Hogsmeade weekends" James said thoughtfully.

"You seem to know a lot about him" Rose grinned widely at her cousin.

"Well, after the incident, Ellie and I sort of considered him a decent enough bloke to notice. Honestly speaking, Rosie, he saved our relationship that day" He said sincerely.

Rose didn't know how to react, it felt good to know that at least one person in her family approved of Scorpius. Again why did she need approval to have a friend, it was not like he was her boyfriend.

"You like him" It was not a question.

She gulped, "No" she said softly.

"Don't worry Rosie, you have my permission, not that you need it" laughed James jumping up suddenly. He ruffled her hair and walked away.

She gawped as her cousin left her to her thoughts, only making it much worse with a story on the subject of her thoughts. He was noble and courageous, she thought smiling to herself. She knew that already, which idiot would take all those buldger hits to save his team. He was also smart, intelligent and _kind _she loved that about him. He was also fun to be with, a great friend, incredibly loyal and a _good kisser. _

Stop. Stop. Stop Rose Weasley. You are not in love with Scorpius Malfoy, he is a friend, so stop listing out his qualities like you are describing a hero. Her mind wandered to the ball and the dances they shared. NOT helping! She thought of their routine conversations, studies and patrols. Too many good memories, she sighed. She was doomed wasn't she? She couldn't do that, no, just because her cousin approved doesn't mean her parents would, or relatives would or even other cousins would, no she couldn't do that, she had to keep this friendship at just that! Friendship.

**A/N - Don't blame Rose, the first flush of love has made her pretty short-sighted to the faults (if any) of Scorpius :) Its only normal to notice the good things :)**


	15. Chapter 15 : Nice To Meet You

**Hello there :) Thank you for your reviews they make me want to write more :) I'd especially like to know what you think of this chapter! Cheers! **

**Chapter 15 – Nice to meet you!**

Rose didn't think she would have to attend another ball in such a short span of time. She also didn't honestly believe she had recovered from the one she had managed to organize with _him_. It took her all her will power to stop thinking of the- name-that-must-not-be-mentioned. In her mind, the use of the name often led her to think of the undeniably happy memories associated with it which in turn was a reason to miss him desperately. This also caused the logical conclusion that there was more than mere friendship there but which could be shot down by a _you can miss a friend _argument that her mind did resort to time and again. Hell yes, it was complicated. _Bloody complicated_, like her dad would say.

Al grinned at her mischievously when he told her that he had been spared from attending the all-important ministry ball because he had made up some excuse about helping out Uncle George at the joke shop. Rose was aware that everybody knew the truth but luckily for him, his parents weren't particular about him attending either. She most certainly did not fancy spending her new year's eve with a bunch of boring ministry officials and their families.

Wearing an emerald green dress that made her eyes look more green than blue, she definitely looked good, she thought as she admired herself in the mirror. _All for nothing_ she thought irritated that she was the only one from the cousins tagging along with the elders.

At the ball, she almost regretted her desire to please, her parents were either too busy dancing with each other or talking to some ministry friends. Her uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were also doing pretty much the same thing. She closed her eyes in boredom as she stifled a yawn.

"Fancy seeing you here, Weasley!"

She could've recognized that voice in her sleep but this was the last place she had expected to hear it.

"Scorpius!" she squealed jumping up to hug him. He hugged her back warmly.

"I must say you must've been pretty bored to be so excited to see me Rose" he winked "I mean you even called me Scorpius in spite of me calling you Weasley" he smiled. He noticed her ears going red.

"O Shut up" she grinned.

He laughed, taking the seat beside her.

"What are you doing here?" She looked at him curiously.

"My mother works at the department for magical cooperation" he shrugged.

"oh" There was a short pause. "My parents work in the ministry" She mentioned obviously unnecessarily as she saw him roll his eyes. Then she laughed to cover up her awkwardness.

"I know you would know that if you so much as look at the papers" she added before he had a chance to pull her legs about it.

"Will you stop that" he rolled his eyes yet again at her.

"What?" She asked genuinely confused.

"Well, taking away my lines" he whined. She grinned. "Know-it-all" he muttered under his breath. She laughed loudly, she felt like she was back in their common room and not in the most boring place in the world like she had felt till then.

"Who is the young lad making our dear niece laugh that loud" It was Ginny smiling at the two youngsters; right next to her was Harry, also smiling. Rose noticed Scorpius looking a little star struck as he stared at Ginny in awe. Harry who had taken the seat on the other side of Rose was grinning when he bent forward to tell her in a low voice so that only she could hear "Looks like Gin has to deal with a fan eh?". Rose grinned back at Harry. It was funny she thought, Harry was the savior of the wizarding world and a whole load of names as per the Daily prophet and the witch weekly and such, but being an International Quidditch star before becoming a Quidditch correspondent for the prophet had ensured that Ginny Potter sometimes got more attention than the former. Her Aunt handled the fame much better than her uncle she thought, he simply managed to avoid the attention while she managed to make it look normal.

"I am" Scorpius started then stopped and blinked as if he had forgotten to speak.

Rose had never seen Scorpius look so lost and this made her laugh more than ever "You are Scorpius Malfoy" she said in between laughs "unless of course you wanted to say I'm in love with you, in which case I'm sorry to say she is my aunt and is already married to the chosen one & Auror Harry Potter".

Harry who was laughing silently had now doubled up with laughter at how mortified Scorpius looked, while Ginny couldn't avoid a grin as she tried in vain to ignore her husband and niece laughing outrageously.

"O shut it" Scorpius finally managed to say to Rose, though he sounded unconvincing and completely embarrassed. She just continued laughing.

"I'm a big fan" he managed to say finally regaining his usual demeanor. "I'm not usually this star struck, but you have been an amazing Quidditch player and most of the current chasers in any of the teams can't hold a candle to you. In the recent times of course, your column in the prophet has been the only saving grace of the paper. Your last article on the pride of portree was insightful and so accurate that I wish they'd hire you as their coach" He finished wistfully.

"Not that they haven't offered" Scorpius was startled to hear Harry's voice but was glad to find him relaxed and smiling.

"Well Thank You Scorpius" Ginny smiled, "Looks like the Portree is your favourite team?" she smiled genially. "As you know James is now a part of Portree, so I'm not sure he would want me there" she laughed lightly.

"He is good, James, I've played quite a few matches against him"

"..and lost" smirked Rose.

Scorpius shot her a glare. "Who are you and what have you done to my sweet niece?" Ginny asked Rose smiling.

"You have a sweet niece? I don't think I have met her" Scorpius smirked watching Rose for a reaction.

"Stop ganging up on my little Rosie ok?" said Harry putting an arm around Rose's shoulder.

"Scorpius" Everyone at the table looked up to find a beautiful woman beaming.

"Mother!" Scorpius chirped happily.

Rose, Harry & Ginny stood up. Ginny extended her hand forward "Nice to meet you Mrs Malfoy"

"Nice to meet you too Mrs Potter, my son is probably the biggest fan of yours". Ginny smiled.

"And my husband can't stop talking about you Mr Potter" she shook hands with Harry next.

"Good things I hope" Harry chuckled.

"Well, mostly" Mrs Malfoy laughed easily.

"Mother!" said Scorpius scandalized, while Ginny and Harry chortled.

"I'd like you to meet Rose" labored on Scorpius ignoring the adults. Suddenly Mrs Malfoy stopped laughing. "You are Rose Weasley?" Mrs Malfoy's eyes widened. She took Rose's hand and held it there. "Oh, Draco and I have been wanting to meet you". Rose was quite confused as Mrs Malfoy refused to let go of her hand and was trying to locate her husband. She looked at Scorpius who was pointedly looking away. Harry and Ginny were watching the scene in amusement. Mrs Malfoy finally spotted her husband, who was by his wife's side almost instantly.

"Look who is here Draco" She said still holding onto Rose's hand.

Draco Malfoy looked at everyone on the table and politely greeted Harry and Ginny, who replied in the same vein. The old school rivals though not friends had managed to get over their animosity and had become cordial towards each other over the years. His eyes settled on Rose, still confused.

"This is Rose Weasley" his wife declared dramatically thus effectively ensuring that Rose's ears were the deepest shade of red.

"oh" the look of compression on his face was immediate and unmistakable, "Wonderful to meet you Rose" he took the hand that his wife had only just let go.

"We wanted to Thank You in person" said Mrs Malfoy "Scorpius told us about how you took care of him after the quidditch accident"

Rose blushed while unintelligibly muttering a "no problem Mrs Malfoy".

"We were not in town and Thank god for you Rose" said Mrs Malfoy suddenly hugging her. Draco looked ill at ease at the overtly friendly gesture by his wife but looked grateful all the same.

"And Call me Astoria, please" she smiled at Rose.

"Mother, you are embarrassing her" Finally Scorpius seemed to have found his voice.

"It was nice meeting you" said Draco to the audience at large and took his wife by her elbow.

"We would love to have you over Rose" smiled Astoria "Scorpius can't stop talking about you" She added finally biding goodbye. Draco Malfoy smirked at the mortified expression on his son's face and walked away with his wife.

"Uh Harry, I think the Griffiths are heading this way, I don't think I can stand another lecture on how I haven't stayed faithful to my team. I think I like this song" Ginny pulled Harry along for a dance "Nice meeting you Scorpius" she added. Rose & Scorpius found themselves sharing an uncomfortable silence.

"That was awkward" Scorpius grumbled.

Rose who was resolutely staring at her feet, found his eyes, "your parents are nice" she murmured.

"What did you expect?" he smirked, " umm let me guess, evil, cold, stuck up people I suppose".

He laughed when he found her red-faced, staring at her hands on the table. He put his hand lightly on hers, "its alright, I can understand" he said softly in her ears.

Her heart seemed to beat at an abnormally fast pace that had nothing to do with _what_ he had said.

"Lets get out of here"

Though surprised by his sudden and slightly strange request, she was more than happy to follow him out into the long winding corridors away from the party.


	16. Chapter 16 : Bringing in the New Year

**Hi :) I was thrilled with the response to the last part, I hope you all like this part as well :) **

**Cass, I'm sorry this is a day late, I hope u had a great Birthday :)**

**Chapter 16 – Bringing in the New Year**

As he walked up a long winding staircase, she followed him without a question. She had to admit she trusted him implicitly or she would never have walked out of a ministry ball with anybody leave alone a boy.

When Scorpius stopped suddenly and said "We are here", Rose looked around to find an open terrace. There was just a little breeze, she shivered slightly as she sat down next to Scorpius who had already settled down comfortably on the floor that was surprisingly warm. He had his back to the wall, she moved closer to him to keep herself warm. He took out what looked like a small scarf from his pocket and shook it, much to her amazement, it opened into a rather large shawl. Scorpius expertly covered them both with it and she was not too surprised to find that it was very comfortable. Magically charmed she thought idly. She also noticed that he had snuck his hand around her waist leaving it there.

They sat in companionable silence for a while. "I've missed you" said Scorpius looking up at the sky.

"You missed the stars?" Rose giggled trying to make light of his declaration.

"No, they've kept me company every night, it is you I missed…Rose" he whispered in her ears tightening his hold on her waist. She gulped unable to think of a comeback. However his breath on her ears was making her skin erupt with Goosebumps. He seemed to notice it, as he rubbed his hands over hers to warm them up. She was suddenly very glad that he didn't know legilimency as her thoughts had crossed the friendly category and gone off on a trip of its own. Her mind had started tamely at his asking her out, a dating phase and a romantic proposal and moved on- rather audaciously- to the future where they were married and enjoying an honeymoon in France, also imagining in detail their bed time activities. She tried to block out the images playing out in her head, in vain!

"What are you thinking Rose" he asked a slight smirk playing on his lips, noticing the redness of her ears.

"Nothing" she replied way too quickly.

Though she noticed his eyes on her constantly, she refused to look back into them.

"You are a lot like your mother" She smiled, "Everyone notices the striking similarity in features with your dad, but you are more like your mum".

"yeah, I guess" there was amusement in his voice when he replied. "My mother is the reason why I have a relaxed and normal father. At least that's what my father says. Also why he is no more the death eater he was at sixteen" he shuddered a little at the thought of his dad ever supporting the most evil wizard that walked the earth. "Not that he had much of a choice, what with grandfather being what he was and all" he trailed off uncomfortably.

"Did you hate me before because of that?" He asked sounding like a little child waiting for parental acceptance. Rose had never heard Scorpius speak about his family and self-esteem was not a quality that he lacked, ever. The sudden vulnerability in his voice was something she had never expected to hear.

"I never hated you" she said kindly. "I remember the first time I saw you dad pointed you out to me and asked me to beat you in every test" she giggled a little "I have been following his advice ever since". Though I have not been listening to the second part of his advice lately, she thought to herself, still smiling.

"hmm, not in every test though" he smirked just a little, then again looked morose when he insisted "but you hated me".

"I NEVER hated you Scorpius Malfoy" she replied heatedly. "Sure, I ignored you and hardly spared a thought towards you, but never hated you. My family has tried to piece together a normal life after the war and they couldn't do that with hate. So we were taught not to hate anyone, honestly".

"Good to hear" he said moodily.

"What" she elbowed his ribs in between fits of giggles "you wanted me to declare that I had been secretly in love with you for all these years? I most certainly was not!". Though I can't quite say the same about how I feel about you now, she thought sheepishly.

"oh wait" she continued more to mask her confused state of mind than anything else "You were secretly pining away for me for the past 6 years? You think I'm beautiful, smart, intelligent, kind, wonderful.. and have been noticing every small quirk of mine, secretly stalking me and other such good stuff!" she declared now enjoying herself thoroughly.

He looked gob smacked for a moment, then laughed uproariously. It took a few moments for the laughter to settle down before he continued "and what about the secret kisses we shared in the dark corridors of Hogwarts?" again breaking down into peals of laughter.

"Uh, when did this happen? Was I imperiused or was I drunk?" She asked straight-faced. The laughter continued for a few minutes before Scorpius retorted "You were drunk in me, my love".

Rose made a retching noise, imitating the action of gagging quite effectively. "That has to be the corniest line I've had the misfortune of hearing Mr Malfoy" she remarked.

"Why? my love, I have loved you for so long. Don't I deserve to tell you so?" he said in a stage whisper, dramatizing the effect of his words with actions, his left hand running through her hair and the right hand moving tantalizingly across her face, until it reached her lips.

The laughter died down instantly, her breath caught as he moved his fingers across her lips. His face was no more filled with the humour of the earlier conversation; there was an aching in his eyes that was hard to miss.

A firework exploded in the sky with a loud bang, this brought both Rose and Scorpius out of their reverie. He pulled his hand back quickly and looked away; she looked up at the firework that now lit the sky. The fireworks were displaying the numbers, _of course_ they both realized together, it was the count down to the New Year.

Great! She thought, as if things weren't awkward enough already. There was a magnificent boom to welcome the New Year, the night sky was lit up with a multi-coloured fireworks display she recognized easily as the special edition ones from WWW. She smiled at the not-so-subtle display of the logo that kept cropping up in between.

"Happy New Year" He leaned forward and kissed her before pulling back swiftly.

"Happy New year to you too Scorp" To his absolute surprise, she tugged him closer and kissed him slowly savouring the moment, he responded after getting over the initial feeling of disbelief. His hands roamed her back while hers were on his hair. When they broke apart, his hands were interlocked around her waist while hers were around his neck. They stayed that way gazing into each other's eyes trying to understand their feelings. It was the first time their kiss had turned into a full on make out session and unlike earlier times they couldn't really come up with believable reasons to suggest it was only a friendly kiss.

"Rose.." he stared into her blue eyes as he tried to form words that would convey what he was feeling. He however couldn't quite think of anything that he wanted to say; that he knew for sure wouldn't create problems in their friendship. The moments passed by and he tried to say something again but nothing came out.

"We should go down Scorp, my parents might miss me". She took her hand off his neck and smoothened her dress. Her heart was still thumping wildly but she tried to look as casual as possible as she tried to sort out her hair. His arms were still around her waist as he stood watching her carefully; she blushed when she met his eye, looking down instantly.

"Is my face ok?" She asked him in an effort to bring back some normalcy to the situation. He looked confused at the question, then slowly unwound his hand and cupped her face casually moving the hair blocking his view. She turned a violent shade of red.

He moved his thumb around her lips, presumably removing the telltale signs of smudged make up. However, shivers ran down her spine with each tiny movement he made. She noticed his face and his gaze, it was unbelievably mellow. His softened features and gentle ways made her feel like she was experiencing a lover's touch than just a friend helping her out. She closed her eyes, reveling in the moment as his warm fingers touched her lips ever so lightly. She let out a small sigh. She felt his hands move away and the cold wind hitting her face with new force. Her eyes sprung open to see him running his hand through his hair, looking away.

"You are fine now." She noticed his voice was croaky and unsure unlike his normal self.

"Lets go down" She nodded her head as they walked silently towards the hall.


	17. Chapter 17 : Meet The Parents

**Hello there! :) **

**Your reviews mean a lot to me! Thank you :)**

**Part 17 – Meet the parents**

She found Ron and Hermione Weasley sitting with Harry and Ginny Potter. Ron was deep in conversation with Harry while Ginny and Hermione were chatting amicably sipping their drinks. Hermione eyes were shifting through the crowd obviously searching for someone, there seemed to be the slightest sigh of relief when she spotted Rose walking towards the group.

"Happy New Year, Daddy" she flung herself into Ron's open arms.

"Happy New year to you too Rosie.." he said smiling at his little girl who had now grown up into a charming young lady. She wished and hugged Harry and Ginny, finally hugging her mother.

"Where were you Rosie, we thought we might have to send some Aurors to look for you" Ron joked.

"Ughhh its not those Amaries, oh no Harry they are looking for you again. I can't stand those prejudiced nutters." said Ginny suddenly turning the conversation away from Rose.

"But they seem to love you Mrs Potter" Harry grinned, "anyway who would save me from them if not you Gin?". Ginny made a face but then rearranged her features when she saw the parties under discussion looking towards them.

"Rose, where were you, I was so worried about you" asked Hermione in a low tone to Rose. She didn't want to draw her husband's attention to the question but she had been worried to find that her daughter had disappeared from the ball.

"I was with a friend mum" Rose replied quietly.

"Friend?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. Ginny engaged Ron in some trivial conversation conjured just to save her niece from unnecessary trouble. She had a good idea with whom Rose had left the party and from the looks of it, so did her husband who gave her a small smile.

"Yes mum, my friend Scorpius" Hermione shot an angry glare at Rose for her abstract answers. "Care to explain why you were missing from the ball Rose?"

"Oh mum, its nothing, Scorpius and I are friends now as you know! I did mention it to you in the letters. We just stepped out because we were bored in here, you and dad were very busy and so were his parents. No, we are not dating, we are friends" Rose explained dully like she always did when her parents questioned on anything.

Hermione's features softened "Rose, I was not accusing you of anything. I was just worried that you left without informing us and you know baby, we can't ever be careful enough." She kissed Rose softly on her forehead.

"I know mum, I just didn't realize" Rose smiled apologetically at her mother.

"Why don't you bring over Scorpius and introduce him to us?" Hermione suggested. Rose gave a look of utter confusion as her eyes flickered to her father and back to her mother. "Go on" Hermione prodded "I'll talk to your dad"

Rose left to find Scorpius. Harry and Ginny went ahead to suffer through the Amaries' boring lecture.

Hermione moved to a seat next to Ron's.

"Where has Rosie gone 'Mione?" asked Ron craning his neck looking for his daughter.

"I asked her to go bring Scorpius, Ron" Hermione said in a casual tone.

Ron shot her a look of sheer confusion. "Scorpius? As is in the Malfoy kid?"

Hermione nodded her head, "Rose is friends with him now, you know that Ron. I just wanted to meet him in person."

"Are they..da..dating?" Ron spluttered.

Hermione shook her head vehemently "No!they are not Ron!"

Ron looked visibly relaxed after that. "Oh good, you nearly gave me a heart attack there, Mione"

She smiled at her husband's reaction. "and what would you do if they do date Ron? You know its not impossible for friends to end up as lovers" she asked slyly.

Ron quite unexpectedly grinned "Don't I know that!"

"But…a Malfoy?" Ron seemed to be clearly struggling with the idea of his little girl getting attached to a Malfoy.

"You know we have to look beyond those prejudices" Hermione said patiently. "Also, you do like Astoria even though she is Mrs Malfoy" Hermione grinned thinking of the cheerful Astoria who was hard to dislike. She remembered the time Harry and Ron had to be in touch with Astoria regarding a case involving some dark wizards in France, Ron had claimed that it was hard to believe Malfoy married such a nice lady.

"Oh she is nice enough" Ron said "Why even Malfoy doesn't behave like a git these days"

"but..my daughter" he moaned unhappy at the very thought of his daughter being with a Malfoy (or any one for that matter).

"Ronald! Don't you do anything if ever anything happens between them" Hermione said in a gentle yet firm voice. She knew he understood and she understood too after all this was their precious daughter they were talking about,

"What can I do anyway?" He whined. Then, continued in a sober tone, "She is my little girl, but she is a smart girl, isn't she? I'd just have to trust her judgment wouldn't I? ".

"She is just like you 'Mione " He took her hand in his and squeezed it, after all these years he still felt lucky to have married his best friend, the brightest witch of their age. Hermione felt happy tears forming in her eyes as she looked at her best friend turned husband of many years.

They were brought back from their trance by Rose's voice. They saw Rose standing next to Scorpius, who looked paler than normal, if possible. The first thought that crossed Hermione's mind was that they looked good together, the two of them, their heights matched, her red hair, his pale blond hair, her skin with freckles, his pale skin, everything about them seemed to complement each other. Hermione had to tell herself that they were only friends though her woman's instinct seemed to scream out to her that the two obviously had romantic feelings for each other.

"Mum, Dad, this is Scorpius Malfoy"

"Scorpius, my mum Hermione Weasley" Hermione held her hand out to shake while Scorpius took her hand and shook it "Nice to meet you Mrs Weasley" he said politely.

"Good to meet you too Scorpius, and please call me Hermione" she smiled easily.

"And this is my dad, Ron Weasley" Ron and Scorpius shook hands briefly while Scorpius said very enthusiastically "an honour to meet you sir" and bowed just a bit. Ron was a bit taken aback by the reaction while Hermione and Rose shared amused glances.

They settled down on the table and had a normal conversation that didn't cover too many controversial topics, in fact an uncomfortable silence was threatening to take over when out of the blue, Ron asked Scorpius what he intended to do after Hogwarts, that's when the tone of the dialogue changed.

"Auror, sir" Scorpius said with pride.

Ron didn't look surprised, he had not smiled in the entire time and Rose was getting more and more concerned that her dad might say something inappropriate. She loved her dad, but she knew how at times he spoke before thinking, just like she herself did.

"Its not easy to be one, you know that" Ron remarked not unkindly.

"Of course sir, I know that, but I have been preparing for years!" Scorpius said sincerely.

Ron looked surprised while Hermione actually voiced the question "Years?"

A slight tinge of pink appeared on Scorpius' face, Rose was looking at him curiously, she had never seen Scorpius seem so abashed.

"Well actually since my second year" Scorpius mumbled.

"Second year Scorp?" It was Rose who asked the question in everyone's mind "You can't be serious?"

"Why" Hermione was unable to sustain her curiosity.

"It was due to the Claudius Septimus case. I had just started reading the daily prophet and the case was something that caught my fancy, I used to wait for more details every day and then I would do my own research from other books in the library"  
>He paused and looked at Ron "the way you caught the wizards who were the real culprits and saved Septimus, it left a real impression on me, Sir. It showed how we need to use our intelligence to solve crimes, bravery to catch the wizards and then of course you saved an innocent man" he completed his sentence dipped in genuine admiration.<p>

Ron's ears had turned completely red, while Hermione looked pleased. Rose however could not quite grasp as to why her parents were looking so pleased.

"Am I missing something here?" Rose asked loudly.

"Don't tell me you don't know Rose" Scorpius asked her sounding shocked.

"Don't know what?" the red head was clearly getting frustrated.

"It's considered one of the most prolific cases in the history of the wizarding world and Auror Weasley was the one to have single handedly handled the case. It is even there in the number 2 spot of the book _100 best wizarding cases ever_ that was published last year" Scorpius was clearly quite shocked that the Auror's own daughter was unaware of her father's magnificent achievements.

It was now Rose's turn to be shocked, how could she have missed such an important detail of her dad's career? "How come I don't know about this" She sent accusatory glances at her parents.

"You were young Rosie" Ron shrugged. "You had other things on your mind then sweetheart" Hermione gently reminded without saying so explicitly about the many adjustment issues that Rose was facing with school work and entry into the Quidditch team, and other trivial issues that seemed like big issues then.

Rose looked slightly mollified "I'm proud of you dad" she said now looking smug at her father's achievement, wow the second best case of all time, she just couldn't be prouder!

From then on the conversation was smoother with Scorpius and Ron discussing the case in detail. The conversation strangely never turned to their families. Then they discussed Quidditch, from school level to country and club level teams were discussed in detail.

When they reached back home, Ron had only one thing to tell Hermione. "He is nothing like his father was at his age"

Hermione grinned "You only like him because he seems to be such a fan of yours"

"That's not a bad thing is it?" Ron winked at Hermione who was laughing.


	18. Chapter 18 : A Blooming Friendship

**Thank you so much for the lovely reviews :) I was very pleasantly surprised at the general positive reviews to the Ron-Scorpius interaction (Here is when I admit that I was quite worried about how the general response would be!) **

**I hurt my fingers last week so the typing is ****haphazard (and the update is delayed!) but the next update will happen soon :) Please do read and review. **

**Part 18 – A Blooming Friendship**

The teachers were assigning more work than ever to the NEWT level students who were now hardly seen engaging in anything but course related work. Rose regularly skipped the Hogsmeade trips to study and keep ahead of the class. Scorpius had continued to practice for Quidditch matches that were rescheduled due to the earlier accident. This along with the intense class work was taking a toll on him yet again.

Rose and Scorpius as if on an unspoken agreement had not discussed their New Year kiss, but continued to be great friends. Since they were mostly restricted to their common room due to the extensive studying, they had only each other to talk to. It was like their friends circle had disappeared and strangely neither of them cared about the absence of other friends. Though Rose felt guilty about not meeting her cousins, especially Al, she knew things would be fine between them, they were always close and some bonds are such that they never really change and hers with Al was one such bond.

Al had convinced Rose to go along with him to Hogsmeade the next Saturday as he claimed he was worried that her brain might melt due to studying too much. Though she had rolled her eyes at his exaggeration, she also knew he missed her company. However, she had forgotten all about her promise on the said Saturday. It was when Al called out to her from the entrance of her dorm that she remembered. She quickly let him in, apologized for forgetting about the plan, left him in the common room to get ready. She realized with a jolt that she hadn't informed Scorpius of her plan either, though they were not dating, they had fallen into such a routine that it felt like she was betraying him by leaving him alone.

Al was walking around the common room looking at various paintings and other decorative items when he heard someone walking in. He turned around to see Scorpius Malfoy walk towards the couch, albeit absent mindedly as he had not noticed Al's presence. He noticed Scorpius had something in his hand and was waving his wand over it saying some incantation he couldn't hear. Curiousity got the better of him as he edged towards where Scorpius was sitting but slinked between the tapestries to stay hidden. He was amused to find that it was the same picture of Rose & Scorpius at the ball that he had shown his parents. He wondered what Scorpius was trying to do with it. His question was almost immediately answered as he saw Scorpius holding a smaller version of the pic, however there seemed to be something wrong with it, as Rose in the picture refused to stay on when it was smaller. So he enlarged it back and tried another incantation.

"You love her, don't you?"

Scorpius was startled to hear Al's voice coming from behind him. He tried to say something but thought the better of it and just looked down at the picture, which was now perfectly done with the miniature version of Rose and Scorpius dancing in sync.

Al placed his hand on Scorpius' shoulder to indicate that he understood.

Scorpius was surprised by the gesture, they were never friends, if anything, they had not even shared a proper conversation in all these years and now he was being asked to reveal his most intimate secret.

"You haven't told her?" Again though phrased like a question, it wasn't really meant to be one.

Scorpius looked distinctly uncomfortable. He shook his head, indicating he had not, and effectively confirming that he was indeed in love with Rose.

"Why?"

Scorpius was silent for a moment then decided, he needed to say it out aloud to somebody.

"Well, I don't know if she likes me that way."

Al gave him a look of deep incredulity. "Are you serious? Have you seen the way she looks at you?"

Scorpius shrugged, "Lets just say I can't afford to lose yet another friendship over a relationship that I'm not sure she even wants."

Al watched Scorpius closely, he looked despondent, he wanted nothing more than to confess to Rose yet he wasn't ready to take the step. He remembered vaguely that Rose had told him about Scorpius' girlfriend and best friend getting together leaving him miserable and friendless. Though they had sorted out their issues, apparently things were not the same anymore. Al felt a wave of sympathy for the guy.

"Hey I'm Albus Potter" He said extending his hand towards Scorpius, who gave him a look that clearly asked if he(Al) were off his rocker.

Al grinned "I Know, it's a little late in the day, but it is never too late to make a friend you know"

Scorpius was unsure of how to react so he decided to take the extended hand.

"Scorpius Malfoy" he smirked shaking the hand.

"Now that's an expression I recognize on your face" Al grinned widely. "So Scorpius, why don't you come with us to Hogsmeade too?"

"Are you asking me out Potter?" Scorpius leered just a little bit, unable to let go of the opportunity to pull the black haired boy's leg.

"Oh I would've" Al said dramatically, placing his hand on his heart "But I know, your heart beats for my cousin"

Scorpius laughed. He had never seen this side of Al Potter, he always thought of him to be a bit of a boring kind, but obviously he was wrong.

"Thank you for the offer Potter, but I think I should let you take your dear cousin away for a while, Merlin knows she needs a break and I have quite a lot of work to finish" he scrunched up his nose in anticipation of the amount of work pending.

"Alright, another time mate" said Al shrugging his shoulders.

"Did I hear laughter?"

It was Rose standing with her hands on her hips, eyeing the boys.

"We weren't laughing at all" lied Al putting on an innocent face.

"Sure, I imagined the laughter then" Rose glared at Al, who flinched just a little bit.

Scorpius however was staring at Rose, she was dressed simply and appropriately for the weather, but he couldn't help noticing how beautiful she looked.

Rose turned her eyes towards Scorpius expecting to get a more honest answer only to find his unwavering eyes on her. She blushed and averted her gaze.

Al snickered loudly; Scorpius shot him a warning glare.

"You both are so obvious" he muttered to Scorpius.

"I'll wait outside, if you both want to say your goodbyes" Al called out to Rose as he made no move to walk away.

Scorpius rolled his eyes while Rose could easily be mistaken for a tomato.

"Hey Scorp, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you" Rose walked uncertainly towards Scorpius. She wanted to invite him along but was not sure how Al would take it.

"That's alright Rose, I've loads to do" he replied cheerily but then later grimaced at the thought of work.

"Hey I invited Lover boy already, but he doesn't want to come" Al shouted from his end.

"What has gotten into him?" Rose murmured almost to herself.

"Never mind him, we are apparently friends now" Scorpius let out a sigh.

"wow! You are? That's great" Rose beamed. The delight on her face cheered up Scorpius considerably as he bid her goodbye.

"I'll get you loads of stuff, do you want anything in particular?" she asked giving him a brief hug.

"No" he smiled looking at her, "You have fun" he kissed her lightly on the forehead.

They heard retching noises from the background but chose to completely ignore it.

"We are only going to Hogsmeade you know" Al came up to them, humour laden in his voice.

"You both act like" Scorpius stopped Al before he could say anything more.

"I wonder why I took your hand of friendship Potter"

"Because you lo.." again Scorpius stopped him by pushing him out of the common room, "you are getting late"

Rose's face was a mix of confusion and surprise. Al came back to pull her along.

"Bye Rose"

"Bye bye, have fun lover-boy" sneered Al closing the portrait hole.

Scorpius groaned. He was not sure if he preferred the indifferent Al or the Friend Al. He did hope against hope that Al wouldn't drop any large hints that would make things uncomfortable with Rose again. He couldn't afford to lose her ever! Whether she felt that way or not, he sure as hell knew he loved her!


	19. Chapter 19 : A Jerk & A Jolt

**Thank you for your wonderful reviews! **

**Warning - This is 'T' rated, because there is some cussing. I'd like to believe its necessary.**

**I'm curious to know your reactions on this chapter, as I felt a wake up call was required for Rose and Scorpius. Please do leave your comments/reactions/reviews..**

**Chapter 19 – A Jerk & A Jolt**

Al Potter was a good friend, he never mentioned Scorpius' feelings to Rose. Though he did indeed tease them mercilessly, they refused to take it seriously. He began to suspect that they knew the feelings they held and were choosing to not act on it. This more than anything confused him.

He understood Rose, having known her for years, he clearly gauged her desire to please and he imagined his Uncle Ron wouldn't be too pleased to have Rose date _a Malfoy_. However, he couldn't for the life of him understand why Scorpius was holding back, maybe he had family issues too, he thought. He was not sure but he felt there was more than he was letting on?

However the brighter side was that he was getting to know Scorpius much better now, they had actually been hanging out more than often sometimes even without Rose. They had mutual respect for each other, a common interest in quidditch and of course Rose, that last factor actually cemented their friendship.

This friendship though welcomed with an open heart by Rose also caused some problems for her. She found herself spending less time alone with Scorpius and more with Anita, Alice, Al, sometimes Lysander along with Scorpius. This irritated her at times as she enjoyed the private time she and Scorpius spent together, however she took it in her stride.

She found herself going to the Library more often to spend some time on her own. She usually made sure her Library visits coincided with Scorpius' Quidditch practice times. This worked well for her until one day Kevin Finnegan asked her if he could study on the same table as her. Being in a Library and unable to say anything to stop Finnegan as it was not against the rules, she grudgingly nodded her head. Later it became a pattern for him to sit at the same table as her. He would ask questions occasionally to which she would reply curtly and be done with it. He never overstepped and got friendly, slowly she felt comfortable enough around him. They would talk a bit in between studying and she discovered that he had a pretty decent sense of humour.

After one long study session, when she was walking to her dorm, he fell into step with her. She was uncomfortable, she was okay with the guy, but she didn't particularly appreciate him walking with her, but then she was not sure how she could ward him off. She tried a simple "I can manage on my own Finnegan" to which he had simply replied "Of course you can, I just want to". She was not sure what response was appropriate for that so she simply resorted to walking silently ignoring him.

Then, quite irritably he made it a routine. He would drop her back every day while regaling her with stories of pranks he had played and jokes in general. She found them slightly amusing but put up a show of enjoying the stories so as not to be rude. After all he was trying so hard to be friendly.

After about 2 weeks, just outside the entrance to the head's dorm while he was narrating a long winded (& boring) story about his friends he completely threw her off by asking "I'm so upset that my friends are going with their dates, I don't want to go alone, will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

She was too stumped to react.

She absent-mindedly opened the portrait hole and walked in without even noticing that he was following her.

"Rose?" he shook her.

"uh? Yes?" She said shaken out of her reverie.

"oh Brilliant" He grinned. "I'm so glad, I was so worried you might not agree" saying which he held her shoulders in appreciation.

She looked at his face in confusion. She had not said yes to him, she was too lost in her thoughts to realize that he had misconstrued her reaction for a yes. She wanted to stop him, but he was rambling on in his excitement. Before she knew it, he had taken a step towards her and placed his lips on hers.

This was wrong she thought as she tried to push him away gently, the portrait hole opened and the only other occupant of her dorm arrived completely drenched in mud and sweat. Scorpius looked at the sight that met him and completely blanked out. He stared into her blue eyes and walked out of the hole without looking back. She pushed away Finnegan "NO" she shouted anger and misery bubbling in her in equal measure. Finnegan looked taken aback by her outburst; he had not seen Scorpius as he was facing away from the entrance.

"You need to go" she said in a calm steady voice. She would not take her anger out on him. He stalked off looking offended and infuriated.

She sat down in the couch trying to make sense of what was happening. She felt like she had betrayed Scorpius, but why? They were not dating, so why did he look at her like that? Why did she feel so guilty? Why? She had no idea, but she knew she had hurt him and by the looks of it even more than Zara Zabini had ever managed. She was his girlfriend then, why would it be the same? She clutched her head and sat there for a long time.

She decided that she had to see Scorpius and clear the confusion. That was the only way out of this. She walked purposefully towards the Gryffindor tower. She found Al in the common room, sitting by the fire talking to Alice Longbottom. She felt vaguely guilty about interrupting but he had already seen her and waved enthusiastically. She asked for a private word and Alice good naturedly smiled and went on to watch some first years creating quite a commotion playing exploding snap. There were some murmurs and furtive glances to see if the head girl intended to tell off the commotion creators. Rose though was too caught up in her issues to even notice.

"Al, I need a favour, I need the map – it is your turn this week right?" She asked him breathlessly.

Al looked at her curiously. Rose never used the marauder's map if she could help it, what had caused her to ask him out of turn he wondered. Also, it was unlike Rose to sound so desperate and request something without a decent explanation.

"Al ?"

"This is about Scorpius isn't it?" guessed Al shrewdly.

"Yes" she nodded her head. He waited for her explanation.

She looked down at her feet and sighed "He walked in on Finnegan kissing me and just left – I need to find him" she seemed close to tears.

"You what?" Al had not expected that. Of course he should've known that git Finnegan was always with Rose when Scorpius wasn't around, he was angry with himself for not warning Rose earlier.

"He asked me out, I was not expecting it, he misunderstood my reaction for a yes and tried to kiss me" Rose tried to explain.

"Okay, wait here" Al rushed off to his dormitory to retrieve the map.

Rose looked around at the common room without really taking in the sights.

"Here take this also" Al handed her the map and the invisibility cloak.

"Thanks Al" she said giving him a brief hug before dashing off.

Al watched her go with a sigh, he wanted to break that Finnegan's nose, he hated the guy, it had nothing to do with the recent incident. There were some news that boys shared that didn't often get out in the open and everything that he had heard about Finnegan was horrible. The nerve of that boy, he thought angrily, to try things on _his_ cousin!

Rose found the dot marked Scorpius Malfoy at the top of the astronomy tower. She ran all the way without the cloak as there were still a few minutes to the curfew. By the time she reached the curfew was on. She found him sitting on the floor staring ahead into the darkness.

"Scorpius" she whispered, her voice echoing in the silence of the night.

He showed no sign that he had heard her.

She moved forward and put her hand on his shoulder. She noticed him closing his eyes at her touch. She sat down next to him.

"Scorpius, look at me" she pleaded her voice breaking "please".

He finally turned his head towards her. She felt her insides clench when she saw his eyes, they showed betrayal and hurt. She flinched and closed her eyes to calm herself.

"Why?" his voice was nothing more than a croak.

"Listen to me please, I can explain" she labored on.

"You owe me no explanation Rose" he said in a distant voice, but her name came out like a loving caress. She shivered.

"I do"

"No, you don't" he said harshly, "We are not dating each other, you were not cheating on me, you are free to kiss anybody you like". Though the harshness had given way to hopelessness by the time he finished saying it.

"Listen to me please"

Her explanation was cut short by two voices that were approaching the astronomy tower. She acted on impulse, "come.. quick" She pulled him up and threw the invisibility cloak around themselves and pushed him forcefully towards one of the secluded parts of the tower.

"wha.." he tried to ask but she placed her finger on his lips stopping him "we can't be seen here Scorpius" she whispered "we are the heads, remember!" still straining to see who the intruders were. Her whole body shuddered however to see who had come in, it was Finnegan and on his arm was a girl who Rose vaguely recognized as a fifth year.

"I can't believe all the broom closets are taken" he said while the girl giggled.

Rose felt Scorpius place his arms around her adjusting the invisibility cloak that had slipped just a bit. He left his arms wrapped around her while watching the boy and girl without much interest.

Finnegan and the girl wasted no time in making out heavily, while Rose hid her face in Scorpius' chest. They were now undressing each other, Scorpius averted his eyes in distaste, they could've edged out of the tower under the cloak but he didn't have the heart to move out of his current position with him and Rose in a secure embrace. After a rather loud session of swearing, cussing, moans and groans, it seemed like they would finally leave.

While dressing up, Finnegan said "Ah Thanks Babe, I needed it, that stupid Rose Weasley, the bitch" Rose and Scorpius stiffened at the mention of Rose

"She bloody wasted my 3 weeks. Who the f- does she think she is".

Scorpius looked angry enough to kill, Rose bit her lips, but stopped him from doing anything with pleading eyes.

"What did she do that's got you so angry, did she leave you mid-way or something" the girl asked laughing.

"No" He said furiously "The bitch pushed me away the first time I kissed her. I had played nice for 3 whole god-damn weeks."

The girl laughed again "hmmm, she is smart, I always knew"

"What the f- do you mean"

"oh calm down Kev, she is not in your league. Why would you even pursue her" she asked calmly.

"I just wanted that red-headed bitch to scream my name in my bed"

Scorpius made a furious move towards the sick guy talking crap about _his Rose_ but Rose stopped him expertly, whispering in his ears "I'll take care of that git tomorrow, no point getting involved now Scorp"

"oh smooth, no wonder she threw you off" she smirked. "Forget it, Kev"

"I'm sure she is screwing around Malfoy" he said venomously "Otherwise I was doing fine."

"Oh I hope they get together, Scorpius Malfoy & Rose Weasley" she sighed "they make an amazing couple, the most romantic pair I've seen. Oh the way they danced together at the ball" She let out a loud, almost dramatic sigh.

"Shut the f- up" Finnegan said irritated. "I'm going to make sure the word gets around that the head-girl is sleeping around"

"If you do anything like that, all your secrets will be out Finnegan, I'm warning you" She said cold fury in her voice.

"Why the f- does a slut like you care?" Finnegan asked taken aback by the rage in her voice and very worried about the consequences if she acts on her threat.

"Because they are like a dream, a hope that fairytales exist" she said softly then added in an icy tone "even for a slut like me" and she stormed off.

Finnegan stared for a few moments into empty space confused at her reaction then walked away slowly.

Scorpius and Rose stood dazed for a moment. The whole conversation they had overheard was like an emotional rollercoaster for them. Rose had stopped an infuriated Scorpius from barging in and smashing the face of Finnegan, then Scorpius had comforted Rose when Finnegan was verbally abusing Rose. Eventually, both were flabbergasted by the girl's defense of Rose and her belief in them as a couple.


	20. Chapter 20 : In My Heart and Yours

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews, its great to see a hundred reviews for this fic :) *does a happy dance***

**I have a concern about the last chapter, almost all the reviewers were new, so does that mean my usual readers didnt like the part or were just busy? I'm genuinely looking forward to your responses, especially since this chapter is quite cheesy (yup, *gulp* )**

**In my heart and yours..**

They stared at each other as a huge tidal wave of emotions swept over them.

After what seemed an eternity, Rose broke the eye contact as she made a move to walk away from under the invisibility cloak. She was quickly stopped by Scorpius who, she noted, looked determined.

He cupped her face with his palm tilting her face just enough to look into her blue eyes again.

"Rose"

"hmmm" She hummed in response. His eyes had captured her attention and somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew what was coming, yet she waited patiently.

"What are we doing?" He asked her.

"What?" She deflected the question back to him. He made an impatient noise that was completely out of character.

"You are the top of our year, I'm not too far behind either. We are not just bookworms, we are smart people who can overcome any challenge thrown our way. So why are we playing stupid?" He asked as he unconsciously drew circles on her cheek with his thumb.

A blush crept up her neck, it was not clear if it was the intensity of the gaze or the movement of the thumb or the truth in the question that had been the cause.

"Rose ! Say something. Tell me I am stupid to feel so intensely protective of you. That walking in on some prat kissing you and getting my heartbroken is completely out of order. That you and I are not dating and I have no right to act like you belong to me. That friends do not kiss each other with such sweeping passion. That you don't care a damn about me" His voice was intense and passionate in sync with his eyes that were now scorching her, almost taunting her to respond to his declaration.

"No" She whispered. "I won't say it, because you are not being stupid, because what we have is not simple. Its special and we know it, because we are too smart not to know it, but are way too smart for our own good as we try to ignore it."

He took a step forward and pulled her into a possessive hug. She reciprocated with feeling as he placed feather light kisses all over her face. She slowly found his lips and kissed with all the love that seemed to burst out of her heart. He kissed back with fervent adoration leaving her in no doubt about the intense feelings he held for her.

They eventually found their way to their common room almost drained by the emotional see-saw the night had been. He sat down on the couch and gestured to her to sit down next to him. She curled up next to him, slowly moving her head to his chest as he held her around her shoulders.

Neither of them wanted to move out of that position almost fearing that the magic would be broken if they let go of each other. Somewhere in their hearts they knew that love was just not enough when they came from families such as theirs. As dramatic as it sounded, they belonged to two families that did not see eye to eye and the feud was older than they cared to know. The last generation, which included their parents had done nothing to wedge the distances, if anything, the rivalry had only intensified. It was not a comforting thought.

She was playing with his fingers while he was stroking her hair. It was like they fell into the comfortable space of love without really going through the phases that required them to reach there.

"We can't really do this" She told him conversationally.

"hmmm… I know" She detected a catch in his voice. Her eyes found his. They were troubled, she saw genuine confusion swirling in them along with a hint of disappointment.

"I promise you, I won't avoid you or ignore you" She moved towards him unknowingly. His eyes were just a little lighter and a spot less troubled.

"How did you know that?" He asked with a drop of awe creeping into a simple question.

She shrugged. "I don't know how, I just do" She dropped a soft kiss onto his lips.

He smiled as he circled his arms around her. This was going to be tough she realized, at least they had not decided to keep away from each other. That would be difficult and foolish to be honest. She didn't think they would be able to stay away from each other even if they wanted to, considering how much they seemed to be attracted to each other. Her only comfort was that they would complete their seventh year in a few months, till then they could surely manage to keep their emotions at bay. Though, she had no idea why that idea seemed to cause a searing pain in her heart. She unwittingly let out a long sigh, he pulled her into a warm hug rubbing circles on her back. This was going to be tough, she thought again as she dozed off.

When she woke up, for a moment she wondered where she was. It was not the comfort of her bed for sure, but she was comfortable. The moment of realization came soon enough when she saw that she was sleeping with her head on Scorpius' lap. He was however sleeping uncomfortably in a sitting position.

She felt a surge of emotions for the boy as she understood that he had let her sleep comfortably choosing discomfort for himself. She wondered vaguely if she should wake him up so that he could sleep in his room but then felt that this might disturb his sleep. She adjusted a few cushions around him to ensure he slept the next two hours restfully. She stared at the sleeping form of the guy she had come to love in only a few months of really knowing him. Why did it feel so right to love him when she knew she shouldn't be doing just that?

By the time she was dressed and ready to go down for breakfast, she had made up her mind on what she intended to do with Finnegan. Satisfied with her plan and with a last glance at the sleeping form of Scorpius, she walked happily towards the Great Hall. On her return almost an hour later, she found that the common room of the dorm empty much to her disappointment as she wanted to inform Scorpius firsthand on how she had put Finnegan in his rightful place.

As she got tired of the wait, she decided to barge into his room. Without putting in much thought to what she was doing, she walked casually into the Head Boy's room. She looked around the room that had become familiar to her because of the time she spent looking after an unconscious Scorpius. He was not in there, she presumed he was taking a bath and wondered vaguely if it was a good idea to appear so suddenly when he was least expecting her.

She came to a quick decision that it was not such a great idea after all and was about to leave when she bumped into none other than the occupant of the room. She noticed that he was shirtless and decidedly uncomfortable as he tried to reach for his shirt that was half way across the room.

She felt an odd sort of amusement at his discomposure.

"You should wander around like that you know, you don't look half as bad" She said with a cocky raise of her eyebrow.

"Glad to know you like it" Scorpius said with a smirk that often defined his expression. In less than three strides he was by her side. "Did you come in here to take a peek or was there something else ?" he asked the smirk getting broader.

She was flustered momentarily but quickly found her tongue when she remembered why she had decided to invade his privacy. They eventually walked down as she regaled him with the tale of her encounter with Finnegan that included relating to him a revised version of the tale of the events of the night before, starting with her stumbling across him on the astronomy tower in the company of a girl, out of bounds, besides being privy to the whole conversation, thus effectively putting an end to the pursuit of Rose by Finnegan in a single, simple stroke, in a very silent manner.

As she finished with her tale, Scorpius looked at her impressed. "You really would have done well in Slytherin Rose" catching the stricken expression on her face he added "and I mean is as a huge compliment", he smiled.

She smiled reluctantly as she realized he really did mean well.

"oh alright, just never tell my dad that" She replied with a shrug but smiling broadly all the same.


	21. Chapter 21 : I Don't Really Know!

**Hello! :) Thank you for your lovely reviews and all the alerts/favorites! Every review is precious! **

**Chapter 21 - I Don't Really Know**

After the Finnegan incident, as Rose insisted on calling it, there was an expected change in the relationship between Scorpius and Rose, but strangely, there was no change in their relationship status. They were still not dating. Al, who had managed to squeeze some of the important details about the "incident" from Rose couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the duo had confessed their feelings for each other yet refused to take it forward.

After pestering Rose to the extent that she had refused to talk about it any longer, he decided to confront Scorpius about it. This was made easier by the fact that his friendship with Scorpius had progressed considerably and hanging out with just Scorpius and Rose or as a part of a group was not uncommon anymore. So when the next Hogsmeade weekend was announced, Al made sure that both Head Boy and Head girl made it to the village instead of slogging the holiday off.

They talked all the way to the village about classes, exams, upcoming Quidditch matches and so on. It was when they reached the Three Broom sticks that Al found his opening to talk to Scorpius when somebody waved at Rose from one of the booths and she stopped by for a chat.

Scorpius found a booth and waved at Rose to let her know where they were sitting. She smiled and acknowledged him while continuing to chat with the guy.

Al brought three butter beers and plopped himself gracelessly onto one of the seats. Scorpius snickered before taking a sip of the butterbeer.

"What are you snickering about Scorp? Jealous that your girlfriend is talking to her ex?" Al asked in a casual tone.

Scorpius nearly choked on his butterbeer. "Ex…?" He spluttered.

"So you admit she is your girlfriend" Al remarked casually.

Scorpius, who had regained some composure by then, didn't fall for the trick.

"I didn't admit to anything. You keep saying that anyway" He said with a casual shrug of the shoulders.

Al noticed Scorpius looking at Rose who was now laughing at something the guy had said. Rose suddenly turned her head to meet his gaze, as if she knew he was looking. She smiled at him and with a slight nod of her head indicated that she'd be there shortly. His smile was automatic and with a nod of his head he assured her he was fine.

Scorpius relaxed visibly as he drank the butterbeer without looking into her direction again.

"So Rose has had a boyfriend before huh?" He asked Al unconcernedly.

Al grinned at first, "yeah Ed Davis, was two years above us. Never liked him much" he said. "Never liked the entire family" he added vehemently. He was surprised to find Scorpius smirking slightly.

"I do know that" he said lightly without explanation.

"What do you know?" Al asked with slight irritation in his voice.

Scorpius eyed Al carefully, he was always so obvious he thought "Well I know why you hate Matt Davis who I assume is Ed Davis' brother"

Al gaped at Scorpius "How do you know that?" He asked his voice not louder than a whisper, completely taken aback.

Scorpius ignored the question as he frowned thoughtfully "When did Ed Davis date Rose? Wasn't he dating your brother's girlfriend then?"

Al stared at Scorpius.

"umm I mean I know Ellie wasn't James' girlfriend then, but I do remember Davis dating her" Scorpius said clearly trying to figure out how or when it happened.

Al burst out laughing "You remember my brother's girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend but you didn't know Rose had a boyfriend then? Isn't that a little odd"

Scorpius met Al's eyes that were twinkling with merriment now. "I have never really followed Rose's love life before" Scorpius said steadily.

"But you have followed James'? And Ellie's apparently" Al snorted derisively.

"I didn't follow their love life" Scorpius replied indignantly "I happened to know the both of them better than you assume while I didn't know Rose at all"

Al looked at him in astonishment, "You knew James? How? And what do you mean you didn't know Rose, weren't you both always the top two students of the year?"

Scorpius looked tired as he answered "About James, it's a long story. Rose, well, What I meant is, I knew her but not personally, just as somebody who got the marks that I tried to beat."

"And now?" Al asked, tactfully changing the topic back.

"Now what?" Scorpius avoided the question smoothly.

"Why aren't you and Rose dating" asked Al bluntly abandoning pretense.

Scorpius gasped. "What do you mean?" He asked carefully.

"Oh come on Scorp, I can see that you both more than just like each other, so why aren't you both acting like normal teenagers? Why aren't you walking around being disgusting and holding hands and kissing" He said sounding slightly revolted at the imagery he had set up.

Scorpius looked amused "..and what makes you think we don't …you know" he trailed off with a meaningful look.

Al put his hands on his head and proceeded to lay his head on the table "uggh no!" he exclaimed.

Scorpius laughed. "You are an odd one Potter, why ask if you don't want to be told?"

Al looked up at Scorpius again. "Ok I'm not going to let you get away with this, tell me why aren't you dating my cousin Malfoy?"

Scorpius observed Al with a contemplative expression.

"I really don't know. I'm not ready for it I guess" He replied seriously.

"Once bitten, twice shy?" Al asked him shrewdly.

Scorpius shook his head "I don't know really"

"You know it is not necessary that it's the same every time. You should trust Rose more than that" Al said firmly.

"I trust Rose with my life" Scorpius replied automatically, then stopped himself "but I trusted Zara and Stan too" he added sighing deeply.

"Its not that at all, is it?" Al asked realization dawning on him.

Scorpius shook his head slowly. "I don't want to lose Rose" he admitted.

"How do you intend to not lose her if you don't ask her out?" Al asked incredulously.

"Well, I'll wait until she is ready to go out with me, I suppose" Scorpius said surprising even himself. He had always been vary of thinking of a future with Rose but his own thought process seemed to indicate that his mind had made a lot of decisions that he wasn't necessarily aware of consciously.

"But…"Al started to say something but Scorpius cut him off.

"So why haven't you asked out Alice Longbottom yet?"

Al gulped down in a hurry the butterbeer that he had sipped but managed to turn red in the process.

"What?" He asked in a shaky voice.

Scorpius grinned "oh, you mean to say you don't know that you are crushing on Longbottom?" he asked innocently.

Al turned redder if possible. "uh…"

Scorpius who was clearly enjoying himself having turned the conversation back to Al continued "and did you really think I didn't know you hated Matt Davis because he asked Longbottom to the ball before you did?"

Scorpius noticed with relief that Rose was finally making way to their table.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me" Scorpius said with his trademark smirk. "Also, I think you should make a move before someone else does"

"Hey guys" Rose said as she flopped down next to Scorpius. Al, who was about to say something stopped himself.

"Hey Rosie" Al said "so gotten back with your ex-boyfriend have you?" he asked glaring at Scorpius.

Rose felt Scorpius stiffening just a little bit. She found Scorpius' hand under the table and intertwined her hands with his. She felt him relax instantly.

"Al" she said angrily "you know I was over him ages ago" she continued, pointing a finger at him "I mean a stupid crush in fourth year and a few months of dating that's all it was, and for god's sake he dated at least three girls post that"

Al shrugged smirking "Was that explanation for me or lover boy here?"

Rose's ears were turning red now.

Scorpius suddenly released her hand from his grip and put his arms around her waist, making a show of it. "yeah it was for me" he said easily as he pulled her closer.

Al laughed suddenly unable to contain himself any longer. Scorpius joined in shortly after which Rose started laughing too. Scorpius had his hand firmly around her waist, she turned to look at him, he was still laughing merrily, his hair was making way into his eyes. She reached out to put it away, their eyes found each other, he stopped laughing instantly. Their faces moved towards each other instinctively.

Their lips were only inches apart when they were brought back to reality by a loud clearing of throat.

They looked at Al guiltily. "I just didn't want to see it" He said apologetically looking out through the door way at the swarm of students passing by. He stood up abruptly, "You guys carry on, I think I see Alice" and left with a small wave.

Rose and Scorpius who had jumped apart at the interruption, looked at each other awkwardly.

"I think we scared him off" Rose said softly.

Scorpius took her hand into his, "No, I think he did see Longbottom" he comforted as he looked out through the window only to see Al walking alongside Alice holding her shopping bags for her.

"See" He pointed happily, Rose who couldn't see them from where she was sitting moved closer to him to see what he was pointing at. She felt his breath catch as she turned her whole body towards him to watch Al and Alice walking happily. She looked at him curious about his reaction but mentally kicked herself for doing so as she found herself breathless at their close proximity for the second time in five minutes.

She quickly collected herself and sat back into her seat.

"If you keep doing that, I can't stop myself from kissing you right here" He said with feeling.

She flushed, he never said things like that to her and when he did with such intensity, she couldn't really help her heart fluttering dangerously. She looked down refusing to meet his eye.

"Come with me" he said getting up suddenly. She looked at him confused, eyeing her three-fourth full butterbeer.

He grabbed the bottle with one hand as he held his other hand out for her which she took without hesitation. They meandered past a throng of students towards the end of the road that led to Madam Puddifoot's . "No" Rose said suddenly.

Scorpius turned to see what the refusal was for but was relieved to find that she was staring at the infamous tea shop with slight revulsion.

"Trust me" he said "we are not going in there"

She nodded as he led her by hand to a rather large tree that was just behind the tea shop but wonderfully hidden from the village and the prying eyes of students.

He was staring at her intently, she stared back. On the back of her mind, she knew why they were there.

He opened his mouth to say something, "I.." he said then as if losing an internal struggle he pulled her roughly into a kiss. She swayed at first and held onto his shoulder for support. He slowly wrapped his hand around her as he intensified the kiss, she responded with passion. She felt something else in this kiss, a desire, something new that they had not shared in their earlier kisses. Eventually, he rested his forehead on her shoulder, breathing heavily. She was running her hand through his hair with one hand while holding him steady with the other.

"Its getting worse" he told her in a low voice.

He slowly lifted his head and found her eyes.

"I.." he said, she put her finger on his lips "I know" she said looking scared, "just don't say it aloud"

He gazed at her his feeling showing uninhibitedly. He nodded in understanding as he took her hand to walk back towards the village. She watched him as they walked through the mass of students.

"Scorp" She whispered when they reached a lesser crowded area.

"hmmm"

"You know" she started, he looked at her once then said "I know Rose. I really do". He gave her a small smile and a reassuring squeeze of the hand that he had not left in the entire time.

As they walked back to Hogwarts she wondered vaguely when their relationship had crossed the stage where they even understood each other without saying anything. She knew what they had was rare, but was she ready for it? She didn't really know.

**A/N - Can you guess how Scorp knew so much about Ellie, Ed and Matt Davis ?**

**Who do you think is more in love Rose or Scorpius? (I really want to know your thoughts on this!)**


End file.
